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National Geographic
New Discoveries Rewrite Maya History | Rise and Fall of the Maya MEGA Episode | National Geographic
New Discoveries Rewrite Maya History | Rise and Fall of the Maya MEGA Episode | National Geographic
National Geographic
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2:56:28 · Jun 14, 2026
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The
ancient
Maya,
one
of
the
greatest
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1
/3522
0:01
The ancient Maya, one of the greatest
0:04
civilizations in human history.
0:07
Beneath the forests of Mexico
0:08
and Central America lie the secrets
0:11
of a sophisticated society
0:13
that endured longer than the Roman Empire.
0:15
>> You're not supposed to have giant
0:17
cities in a tropical forest.
0:20
>> For decades, archaeologists focused
0:23
on the end of the ancient Maya.
0:25
>> Most Maya kingdoms were simply abandoned to the forest.
0:29
>> But the start of Maya society
0:31
holds as many mysteries as its fall.
0:34
>> When do we start seeing Maya civilization?
0:36
And that's a complex
0:38
>> Now, a new discovery
0:40
is blowing apart long-held
0:42
beliefs about the earliest
0:44
>> It would accommodate thousands,
0:47
if not 10,000s of people.
0:49
>> A record-breaking monument has been >> It's enormous.
0:53
This is the most important
0:55
finding in my career. >> Hidden treasures unearthed.
0:59
>> And we were the lucky one.
1:04
>> And ancient skeletons exhumed.
1:07
>> This is the earliest
1:08
dedicated burial ground that we know of in Central
1:11
>> Shedding new light on a lost
1:13
and ancient >> It flips everything that we assumed.
1:18
>> And exposing long-lost secrets
1:21
about the origin of the Maya civilization.
1:36
Hidden beneath dense forests
1:38
lie the ruins of an ancient civilization.
1:42
The lost world of the Maya.
1:45
The Maya constructed towering
1:47
pyramids, lavish temples, and vast cities.
1:52
They developed writing and mastered astronomy.
1:56
>> It was a world of mythology.
1:57
It was a world of religion.
2:00
>> The civilization occupied a Maya region
2:03
that stretched from the south of modern-day Mexico
2:06
into Belize, Guatemala, and beyond.
2:10
They were united by belief and ritual,
2:12
but never a single ruler or language.
2:15
Today, much of what we know about the ancient Maya
2:18
comes from the so-called golden age.
2:22
The classic period between about 250
2:26
and 900 AD, when many great city-states flourished.
2:29
But it's around 4
2:31
or 500 BC that the hallmarks
2:33
of a true civilization appeared.
2:35
>> We see a lot of growth.
2:36
We see towns and
2:38
large cities being built
2:40
in numerous, numerous locations.
2:43
We see roads, we see giant agricultural terraces.
2:46
Uh we see new forms of artwork, we see writing.
2:51
>> Writing is a huge development
2:53
in any civilization, in any era of the world.
2:57
>> If they had any writing
2:58
before 400 or 500
3:00
BC, it has not survived,
3:02
and they don't seem to have had much use of it.
3:06
>> The big mystery is what happened before these developments.
3:10
What is the origin
3:12
of the Maya as a
3:15
Now, an archaeological breakthrough
3:17
could answer these questions.
3:22
A new discovery has been made on the western edge of the Maya region
3:25
in the Mexican state of Tabasco,
3:27
at a site known as Aguada Fénix.
3:35
Daniela Triadan leads a team of archaeologists
3:38
from the University of
3:41
They thought this relatively
3:43
unstudied landscape might hide
3:45
undiscovered clues about the origin of the Maya.
3:50
And their hunch paid off.
3:53
Beneath the trees and farms of this area is something remarkable.
3:58
A structure so immense
4:00
that it had hidden in plain sight.
4:04
>> It is such a big scale
4:05
that when you walk over the surface
4:08
it looks like a natural landscape.
4:11
And all of this that we're standing on, that we're seeing here is artificial.
4:15
It is just >> From the air,
4:20
thick vegetation obscures the true shape of what's here.
4:24
But a powerful technology
4:25
called lidar lets the team peer beneath the trees.
4:31
The system fires laser pulses from an airplane to the ground,
4:35
which pass through small gaps in the foliage and bounce back.
4:40
Generating precise three-dimensional maps of the land beneath.
4:49
At a lab near Guada Phoenix,
4:51
the team's co-leader, Takeshi
4:53
Inomata, uses lidar images to examine the site.
4:58
>> If you want to make detailed
4:59
map, you spend couple years and then cover only 1 square kilometer.
5:05
But now with lidar,
5:07
you can cover that area
5:09
1,000 times wider in the just few days.
5:14
>> The results expose something
5:17
An immense raised area
5:19
with edges too regular
5:20
and straight to be natural.
5:23
>> That is a something
5:25
enormous, very important site
5:28
that nobody knew about
5:30
>> That was a big surprise for us.
5:33
>> This mysterious structure is almost 1.5
5:36
km long and 400 m wide.
5:40
It's a giant raised platform
5:42
larger than 85 football fields.
5:47
>> So, this is the main
5:49
rectangular platform of Aguada Fenix.
5:52
This is a very well-designed intentional construction.
5:57
>> Nobody knew that this landscape
5:59
is artificial until we had the high-resolution lidar.
6:03
I'm standing on one edge of the platform
6:05
and I can actually see the other one
6:07
and the distance is unbelievable.
6:10
And all of it
6:11
was built by people.
6:14
>> Now, the team need to figure out
6:16
exactly what they found.
6:26
At the center of the platform,
6:28
they're excavating directly into the structure.
6:31
>> We need to clear this place.
6:33
Clean it >> By stripping away the soil
6:36
layer by layer, they hunt for clues
6:39
about the monument's construction.
6:42
Their findings confirm that this is no natural feature.
6:47
>> So, we see the series of constructions.
6:50
You have this fill
6:52
with red soil and then covered by this white floor.
6:56
So, we reconstruct this
7:00
>> This entire platform was formed from layers of earth
7:04
carefully stacked by human hand
7:06
to a height of 10 to 15 m.
7:09
The team have discovered something truly
7:17
It's an ancient monument
7:18
larger by volume than anything
7:20
ever found in the Maya region before.
7:25
Formed from some 4
7:26
million cubic meters of earth,
7:28
a volume larger than Egypt's Great Pyramid.
7:33
When it was finished,
7:34
this artificial plateau must have dominated
7:36
the >> This whole construction
7:41
had several construction episodes
7:43
and was built directly on the bedrock.
7:47
>> The platform has built-in access ramps,
7:49
four in total, forming gentle sloping paths to the top.
7:54
This mysterious monument was built for something important, but what?
8:00
>> You could probably spend decades
8:02
working at the site.
8:03
So, what we have been trying to do is we have been trying to
8:05
strategically excavate to get the most
8:09
information or the most important
8:11
at the >> And the first piece of information
8:14
to figure out that will help answer how Aguada Fenix
8:19
fits into our current knowledge of the
8:22
is when this platform was built.
8:30
There are no inscriptions
8:32
or writing that might contain a date anywhere to be found.
8:36
So, the team need to carefully
8:38
hunt for organic material
8:39
that can be dated.
8:42
And at the heart of the platform,
8:43
they uncover a clue that may prove decisive to their investigation.
8:52
This piece of charcoal
8:53
is the burnt residue of organic matter.
8:57
By measuring the ratio
8:58
of radioactive and stable carbon isotopes,
9:02
archaeologists can determine the age.
9:06
>> This is the most important thing we're looking for.
9:09
Because it is the key to giving a date to the elements we have here.
9:17
>> When the team analyzed pieces of charcoal found deep within the
9:21
they discover something that will transform
9:23
everything they thought they knew
9:25
about the people of the Maya region.
9:30
The ancient builders began constructing
9:33
Aguada Fenix around 1,100
9:36
BC and continued to build at the site
9:39
until 800 This is not only the largest
9:44
ancient monument ever unearthed
9:46
in the Maya region,
9:48
but also the oldest.
9:51
Now the team has a real mystery to solve.
9:54
Was Aguada Fenix built
9:56
by the earliest Archaeologists
10:01
traditionally thought that the development
10:02
of Maya civilization was gradual.
10:06
With small villages beginning to emerge
10:08
between 1,000 to 350
10:11
BC and the population
10:13
becoming increasingly Culminating in the huge monuments
10:17
the Maya would become famous for.
10:20
Aguada Fenix turns that idea on its
10:25
>> Certainly this is the most important
10:28
finding in my career.
10:29
It has really a huge
10:31
implication for the understanding
10:34
of development of Maya civilization.
10:38
>> Takeshi and Daniela need to hunt for more clues that might prove a link to the Maya.
10:44
They want to know what it was used for
10:46
and how it was built.
10:51
Ancient builders of the giant platform
10:53
at Aguada Fenix assembled
10:55
it in layers using clay and earth.
10:58
>> We see that the construction
10:59
happened over various episode.
11:02
They built one version
11:04
then years later they came back
11:07
and then did another version of construction
11:10
on top of the earlier one.
11:13
>> So where did the construction material come from?
11:18
Daniela has uncovered evidence that suggests the builders didn't have to travel far.
11:27
>> So here we're on the southern part of the platform.
11:30
You see the slope
11:32
and that's the actual
11:33
edge of the We have these type of holes
11:39
all around Aguada Fenix and we think those are the borrow pits
11:43
that they used for the soils
11:45
to actually construct the big platform.
11:48
>> There were no pack animals
11:49
or carts at the time.
11:51
So everything had to be moved on foot.
11:56
>> People were taking soil
11:58
from their various places
12:00
but from relatively nearby area
12:03
and then brought in to this platform
12:06
and then put the soil there.
12:09
>> The discovery allows investigators
12:11
to build a picture of what the construction
12:13
must have looked like
12:15
and it was immense.
12:19
The builders of Aguada Fenix needed to move some 4 million cubic meters of earth.
12:26
A task that took 10 to 13
12:28
million days of the builders work.
12:32
And that was completed
12:33
in some 200 The construction
12:38
of Aguada Fenix from earth
12:40
might seem simple but new evidence to the north of the site
12:44
suggests that the people who built this platform
12:47
were sophisticated Takeshi's team
13:00
has unearthed a mysterious stone structure.
13:04
It's a dike built to control water
13:07
and the remains of a canal.
13:09
>> This is the probably
13:10
the dike that the ancient
13:12
people built and then this may have been the canal
13:16
where water can run
13:19
Then in here we found
13:21
white material which makes a nice
13:24
living or walking surface.
13:26
On top of it, they build
13:28
this dike with stones
13:30
and a a soil mix.
13:33
>> The discovery shows that the builders of Aguada Fénix
13:36
had a sophisticated knowledge of hydraulic engineering.
13:40
>> Possibly they may have had
13:41
some kind of arrangement
13:44
to adjust the water level.
13:46
Some cases they may let the water
13:49
flow from here or some cases they may
13:52
stop the water to control
13:54
the water >> This new find
13:58
shows that the builders could modify the landscape
14:00
around their giant platform.
14:06
They might have used the dike to control the flow of rain or flood
14:09
water, artificially raising the level of a natural lake beside their immense
14:15
Perhaps to ensure a steady supply of water
14:18
or even for symbolic reasons.
14:23
>> This water management work itself
14:26
was probably pretty substantial work.
14:29
And then probably they shaped
14:31
this shore of the lake,
14:33
made it in a straight line
14:35
over there southern part.
14:37
And then the other side
14:38
they made a pretty
14:39
elaborate waterfront area with straight uh shore.
14:46
>> The discovery is evidence
14:48
of the sophistication and engineering
14:50
knowledge of the ancient builders of Aguada Fénix.
14:54
Now, a find at the platform itself
14:57
suggests that it was built using a surprising method.
15:06
Digging 2 and 1/2 m below the
15:09
archaeologist Maria Belén Méndez
15:12
has unearthed something strange.
15:15
>> Yo nunca he visto >> I have never seen this kind of organized and systematized filling.
15:21
Materials of different colors
15:23
and the collection of
15:26
>> that resemble a wall.
15:29
This layer of stones holds back the earth of this color
15:33
so that it's not confused
15:34
with the earth on the other side.
15:37
So it's like a separation
15:39
that divides This side of the group of people probably filled with one color
15:47
and on the other side other people filled with another color.
15:51
The ancient walls were probably
15:53
filled with earth and
15:56
The builders of Aguada Fenix
15:58
formed tens of thousands
15:59
of cells measuring 1 to 2 m wide
16:03
and up to a meter deep.
16:05
Then they filled the center of each with earth in shades of green,
16:09
blue, red, and >> People are clearly
16:14
laying down these different colors
16:17
in their own cell
16:19
and they have their own preferences
16:21
and I think what it means
16:23
is that each of these
16:25
cells represents a group of people
16:27
and it's their part
16:28
of the construction that they're contributing to.
16:33
>> But surprisingly, >> once completed
16:36
builders hid their immense
16:38
checkerboard with a thick layer of white earth.
16:42
>> So that tells us that it's not just the final product.
16:47
How they made it
16:48
must have had uh symbolic
16:50
ritual >> significance for those people.
16:54
>> It's an important clue
16:56
suggesting this was a ceremonial
16:58
site that brought people together
17:00
for its And now the team has discovered
17:04
why it was built.
17:08
When Takeshi examined the lidar scans
17:10
of Aguada Fenix, he spotted something
17:14
Pyramid-like structures on a platform
17:17
extending from the side of the monument.
17:20
What did the ancient people use them for?
17:23
And is there a link
17:24
to the Maya The mysterious
17:39
pyramid-like mounds that Takeshi discovered
17:42
are covered in thick forest today.
17:46
>> We are on top of the western
17:48
pyramid or From the center line
17:51
of this mound to the center
17:54
of the eastern mound
17:55
seems to have very intentional
18:00
>> Takeshi thinks these two mounds
18:02
were assembled by the ancient builders of Aguada Fénix
18:05
for a very special
18:11
It's a layout known as an astronomical
18:14
complex or E Group.
18:17
The higher mound in the west
18:18
allowed ancient astronomers to observe the sunrise
18:21
compared to the mound directly to its east.
18:25
The technique allowed these people to calculate
18:27
precise dates in the year.
18:30
Aguada Fénix was built as a ceremonial gathering place.
18:38
>> So, sun rises >> in this direction on February 24th.
18:44
Then it comes back.
18:46
And then it rises
18:48
on this direction on October 17th.
18:52
Interestingly, the interval between
18:55
October 17th and February
18:58
24th is 130 days.
19:02
That's very significant number.
19:04
130 is half of 260-day calendar.
19:10
>> Takeshi has uncovered a vital clue
19:13
that links this site with the great Maya civilization.
19:21
The Maya used a calendar
19:22
called the sacred realm
19:25
to track important activities
19:26
related to the gods.
19:28
It was formed of 260 days.
19:33
260 was a combination
19:35
of the numbers 1 to 13
19:37
coupled with 20 different day
19:42
>> We have 20 digits, right?
19:44
We have 10 fingers and 10 toes.
19:46
So, the number 20
19:47
comes directly out of the human body.
19:50
Their cosmos was a
19:53
mirror image in some ways
19:54
of the human body.
19:56
So, this is a fundamental
19:57
kind of template that they use
19:59
in their numerology, in their calendar,
20:02
and in in the structure
20:04
of the cosmology in general.
20:05
>> So, we think these ceremonies
20:07
were certainly dedicated to
20:10
>> the sun, but also
20:11
with the growing season for maize.
20:14
So, it's a whole complex,
20:16
I think, that speaks
20:17
to these ceremonies having to do with
20:22
with the organization of the cosmos,
20:25
and the time and the calendar.
20:28
>> Throughout the history of the ancient Maya,
20:30
astronomical complexes were central
20:33
to ceremonial sites they built.
20:36
And Aguada Fenix is the oldest such complex
20:39
in the entire Maya region.
20:43
The discovery suggests that Aguada Fenix was an open-air
20:47
temple, an immense sanctuary
20:50
and meeting a place of pilgrimage
20:53
that hosted huge just as the Maya would do at the height of their civilization.
21:02
Pilgrims accessed the platform
21:04
via four giant ramps
21:06
located at its ends.
21:08
Each one is 120
21:10
m long and 50 m
21:15
>> Here you could have probably
21:17
10 people go next to each other up this ramp.
21:22
And we think the northern part and the southern part, this is how people
21:25
potentially ceremonially accessed the big platforms.
21:30
>> The 560,000 sq m of the platform
21:34
allowed a huge number of people to gather.
21:38
>> But if you just look at the dimensions
21:39
of it, it would accommodate
21:42
thousands if not 10,000 of people.
21:45
>> But the team have found no evidence
21:47
that these people lived
21:48
at Aguada Fenix in a
21:52
>> There were different kinds
21:54
of people gathering here.
21:55
Some people are more mobile
21:57
coming from distant places
21:59
and some of them may have been a ritual specialist
22:03
who did mainly the sort of observation, organization of ritual.
22:08
>> Now, a remarkable discovery
22:11
is exposing one of these people.
22:16
The tropical environment here
22:18
means that organic matter doesn't preserve well.
22:21
Making a discovery to the northeast
22:23
of the platform very exciting.
22:27
The skeletal remains of a 3,000-year-old
22:34
>> He was buried in a sitting position.
22:37
His legs and knees like this.
22:41
Like this kind of position.
22:44
>> Examining the bones reveal they're from an adult man
22:48
who carried out physical labor.
22:50
>> He had some pattern
22:53
of bone which indicate
22:55
that the he did a very hard physical
22:57
work including carrying the
23:00
heavy load using a band
23:04
put on the forehead,
23:06
and then carry the heavy load in the back.
23:09
One possibility was he was one of the workers
23:13
who built the the platform.
23:17
>> Takeshi's team found evidence of this man's diet
23:20
by analyzing his teeth.
23:23
>> But this person ate
23:25
relatively good amount of maize.
23:27
So, some people may have
23:30
been adapting a more sedentary
23:33
way of life with more maize consumption.
23:36
So, we are seeing that
23:38
a change in the
23:41
Before 1,100 BC, many people are probably mobile
23:47
because they didn't build substantial residential structures.
23:52
They are moving by season,
23:54
and probably they are in a transitional stage.
23:58
>> The discovery suggests that the people who built Aguada Fénix
24:02
were beginning to settle
24:04
and become more sedentary agriculturists.
24:07
Could they have planted the seeds
24:09
for the Maya civilization?
24:11
The team need to find more evidence.
24:18
At the heart of the astronomical
24:20
E Group complex, the team dig on the center line between the pyramid bounds.
24:26
This is where archaeologists
24:27
have found buried artifacts
24:29
at other ancient sites,
24:31
and they're about to strike
24:35
Claudia Alvarado is in charge of the
24:38
and her team has unearthed
24:40
an unusual green stone.
24:44
>> This is where they found it. Just below?
24:49
And who's the lucky one?
24:53
It's a jade stone,
24:55
the most precious and sacred
24:57
in the Maya region.
24:59
And it must have been placed here
25:02
>> It doesn't come from here.
25:04
In any case, it's not its natural place.
25:09
>> The team record the exact location
25:11
and orientation of the stone
25:13
before removing the precious clue.
25:17
We dig at the ground
25:18
to see if we can hopefully find more of these stones.
25:21
The discovery of jade
25:22
at Aguada Fenix is more evidence
25:24
of the link to the Maya.
25:28
Green jade stone was highly prized by the civilization.
25:33
They used it in funerary
25:35
masks and other ritual objects.
25:38
>> There are sources of jade
25:40
in the Mexican side of the Maya region,
25:43
but a lot of the finer
25:44
jade came from the the other side
25:47
of the Maya lowlands.
25:48
Jade was used mostly for ritual purposes.
25:51
>> It was a rare material,
25:53
so it was something that was hard to get.
25:54
It was also physically hard.
25:56
It was very hard to carve.
25:59
It was so durable.
26:00
It was so lasting.
26:05
>> At Aguada Fenix, the team want to find out
26:08
what the builders used jade for.
26:12
The piece is clean, Takeshi. Very good.
26:16
Let's take a look.
26:18
It looks more polished on one side.
26:20
>> Yes, it's polished on this side.
26:23
>> Takeshi's team has found other polished jade stones, too,
26:27
including axe >> If we see those stones,
26:31
they are not standardized.
26:33
Many different shapes and then different color.
26:36
So, that means that they obtained
26:39
those individual pieces through
26:42
different connection and then for the big
26:45
ceremony, they put them together
26:48
and then deposited them.
26:51
>> One piece of jade
26:52
has been carved into a tool of some sort.
26:55
>> This part is broken,
26:57
but originally it must have had a pointed end.
27:00
Probably used for bloodletting ritual.
27:04
In case of male,
27:05
they pierce a male organ.
27:07
In case of female,
27:08
they pierce the tongue.
27:12
>> The practice of bloodletting,
27:14
a kind of self-sacrifice,
27:16
was an important ritual in the Maya
27:19
It was sometimes performed
27:20
by rulers in >> as a way of demonstrating
27:23
their connection with the sacred world.
27:27
Bloodletting and jade objects,
27:29
alongside the sophisticated mystical calendar
27:32
and tracking of the sun,
27:34
offer further evidence of a link
27:36
between Aguada Fenix and the Maya.
27:40
But these cultural ideas
27:41
were also common amongst other ancient societies
27:44
who existed in this part of the
27:48
Now, a new find
27:49
will offer a more direct
27:54
Near the jade stone cache,
27:56
the team find a series of ceramic bowls and pots.
28:01
>> This is the first big discovery
28:03
we've >> Daniela has the task of piecing them back together.
28:11
>> It's like a 3D puzzle. Difficult puzzle.
28:15
These are mostly jars and relatively rare and we think
28:20
that Aguada Fenix they may actually be have been used for
28:24
>> Ceramics are a crucial part
28:26
of any archaeologist's investigation
28:29
because styles, techniques, and materials
28:31
can be traced to individual regions or people.
28:34
And Daniela sees a link to an ancient Maya city called Seibal,
28:38
the oldest currently known.
28:41
>> At that time, if you look at the whole Maya area, we have very
28:44
localized traditions in ceramic.
28:46
But the Aguada Fenix around this look like Seibal ceramics.
28:49
I think these people are very closely related.
28:53
>> Could Aguada Fenix and Seibal
28:56
have been built by the same people?
29:01
Seibal is located 180
29:03
km away from Aguada Fenix in Guatemala.
29:10
Both sites are connected
29:11
by the mighty Usumacinta
29:13
River and its tributaries.
29:16
Archaeologist Melissa Barham studies the origin of the Maya civilization.
29:23
The ancient city of Seibal
29:24
mostly lies in ruins amongst the jungle.
29:29
It's an important site for understanding
29:31
the birth of the Maya
29:33
because it's one of the earliest
29:34
and longest-lasting Maya cities.
29:37
>> We don't know how many people
29:39
lived here, maybe 10,000 to 60,000 people.
29:42
It is a really large city.
29:45
So, here in the very center,
29:47
you know, thousands, but then in the greater area,
29:50
tens of thousands of people,
29:55
>> Excavations carried out over more than 10 years
29:57
have revealed structures remarkably
29:59
similar to those found at Aguada Fenix.
30:05
>> The most surprising thing about
30:07
Seibal itself is that this area
30:09
that we are on right here
30:11
is actually on this very large platform.
30:15
So, before, we thought it was just a natural rise.
30:17
We didn't realize that it was actually very square,
30:21
like you can see right here.
30:23
This was definitely modified
30:24
by people to look like a square,
30:27
which is similar in a sense to Aguada Fenix.
30:31
>> The prominent stone monuments
30:33
of Seibal were built centuries
30:35
after Aguada Fenix, including a grand pyramid,
30:38
>> of which only a few stones remain.
30:43
The pyramid once stood 28
30:45
m tall, but it's what archaeologists
30:48
discover below that surprises them.
30:51
A few meters below ground,
30:53
they find a 2-m
30:54
tall pyramid-like structure on a wide platform.
30:58
It appears to be an astronomical
31:00
complex laid out just like the E group at Aguada
31:05
and it dates to 950 BC.
31:10
It's the oldest structure at Ceibal,
31:12
>> built little more than 100 years after the giant platform at Aguada Fénix was
31:17
>> We have axe caches
31:19
all the way along the central line here,
31:21
very, very similar to what we see at Aguada Fénix.
31:25
>> The similarities between Aguada Fénix and this earliest occupation
31:29
of Ceibal are clear.
31:31
And a grizzly discovery
31:32
suggests how they are connected.
31:38
Melissa and her team
31:39
unearthed an ancient necropolis
31:41
in this clearing within one of the earliest Maya cities, Ceibal.
31:48
>> So, here is where
31:49
uh we excavated in this area right here.
31:52
It was about 4 by 4 m.
31:54
And we kept expanding
31:55
because we kept finding the burials.
31:58
And it's only about a meter,
32:00
a meter and a half down under our feet where we're at.
32:03
And they are just everywhere.
32:07
>> They eventually exhume 13
32:09
skeletons of men, women, and children.
32:15
>> It is like this place was used
32:18
specifically as a cemetery,
32:20
as a burial ground,
32:21
which is a totally
32:23
unique, different practice that we didn't know about.
32:26
And this is also
32:27
the earliest dedicated burial ground that we know of
32:30
uh in Central America.
32:32
>> Could these bones prove a link between Ceibal and Aguada Fenix.
32:42
The team sent the ancestral
32:44
remains to Guatemala City for further
32:48
Juan Manuel Palomo specializes
32:50
in the study of bones.
32:52
The hard enamel of teeth
32:54
captures tiny isotopic markers
32:56
that can be used to decipher
32:58
where a person lived
33:00
and even if they migrated
33:01
to a new >> This individual
33:07
was born in the Seibal
33:09
And when we look at the data from his third molar,
33:12
it falls perfectly in the local area of Seibal.
33:14
So, this individual spent his early adult years and obviously died in the Seibal region.
33:20
>> But, three skeletons have markers
33:22
that show they grew up away from
33:26
>> For these individuals, the strontium isotopes suggest that they were
33:32
>> Our hypothesis is basically
33:33
that when the E group was made, like 950
33:36
BC, a group of people might have introduced
33:38
these ideas from the Aguada Fenix area
33:41
about ritual, about cosmology.
33:45
>> The link between Aguada Fenix and Seibal
33:48
is a vital clue.
33:50
Archaeological work at Seibal
33:52
shows occupation of the site
33:54
from 950 BC >> until after the end of the Maya Golden Age, 2,000 years later.
34:07
For Daniela, back at Aguada Fenix,
34:10
Seibal helps tackle the question
34:12
of whether the builders of the giant platform
34:14
are ancestors of the Maya.
34:18
>> The whole research is about
34:20
basically when Maya people become
34:22
what we would recognize as Maya people.
34:25
And when is this happening and how is this happening?
34:27
And Seibal, where we have
34:29
an E group at 950,
34:30
and nobody would have a problem
34:32
calling these people ancestors of Maya.
34:34
We just happen to be 180
34:36
km to the west of it,
34:38
but if I look at the materiality
34:40
of what's going on,
34:42
I have no problem in putting these people into
34:45
the same kind of cultural sphere.
34:48
>> The evidence suggests that we may not be able to call the builders of
34:51
Aguada Fenix Maya, but that they probably
34:54
laid the groundwork for the great civilization.
35:00
Now archaeologists are uncovering
35:02
clues about a link between Aguada Fenix
35:05
and another ancient civilization.
35:09
The evidence lies 380
35:12
km west in the Mexican state of Veracruz
35:15
at an ancient site called San Lorenzo.
35:20
It was in these fertile plains that a powerful
35:22
civilization called the Olmec developed and thrived.
35:27
The Olmec first appeared
35:28
around 1,500 BC, 400
35:32
years before Aguada Fenix was
35:35
They are the oldest civilization
35:36
in this part of the Americas.
35:38
>> Olmec culture is one of the early kind of moments
35:42
where we definitively say, "Okay, this is a pattern of shared beliefs and practices
35:47
where where it's um a cultural phenomenon."
35:51
>> This is where I think we see
35:53
some of the earliest
35:54
architecture and uh sculpture
35:58
that is reflecting a mindset
36:00
and an idea of culture
36:01
that civilizations grow out of.
36:07
>> The remains of the Olmec city known as San Lorenzo
36:10
are buried beneath a wide
36:15
Archaeologist Virginia Arieta Baizabal
36:18
studies this long-lost culture.
36:21
>> So this was the first capital
36:24
of the Olmecs, one of the first capitals
36:26
of the There were many people.
36:33
It's a bit like going to the capital
36:34
of today, to Mexico City.
36:38
This landscape once looked very
36:41
The Olmec built San Lorenzo
36:43
on naturally high ground,
36:45
which they artificially leveled and shaped
36:48
using an estimated 8 million cubic meters of fill.
36:52
The platform towers 70 m above the
36:56
protecting their capital city from floods during the rainy season.
37:00
It's calculated that it took 14 to 18 million working hours.
37:05
Construction only took place during three or four months a year,
37:08
during the dry season.
37:10
So, it was periodic work that required a lot of organization,
37:13
a lot of people,
37:14
and a lot of effort.
37:16
The Olmec appear to have had similar ideas to Aguada Fenix's builders.
37:23
Aguada Fenix was built long after San
37:26
And Takeshi has found a link between the
37:30
>> This breakthrough came from examining lidar scans.
37:34
>> San Lorenzo also had
37:36
a very enormous artificial platform.
37:40
In this image, you see that this very straight line.
37:45
And the other side
37:46
is a little bit subtle,
37:48
but you see another straight
37:51
So, there was this rectangular
37:53
space >> The layout is remarkably
37:57
similar to Aguada Fenix.
38:00
>> So, this image shows
38:03
Aguada Fenix on this side,
38:05
San Lorenzo on this side.
38:07
Both of them have
38:09
28 platforms, and then both of them
38:12
have this rectangular plaza space.
38:15
And then on top of it, Aguada Fenix has two
38:18
causeways from the south.
38:20
San Lorenzo also had probably
38:22
had two access ways from the south.
38:25
So, that I think that the Agua de Phoenix
38:28
followed the format developed
38:30
originally at San >> The builders of Aguada Fenix
38:35
seem to have shared ideas
38:37
with the city of their
38:40
But how much of the Olmec culture did the builders share?
38:50
In the mid-1900s, archaeologists
38:52
excavating at the ancient Olmec city of San Lorenzo
38:55
make a startling discovery.
38:58
A series of huge statues.
39:01
Sculpted from basalt boulders
39:03
that weigh many tons.
39:09
>> They're thought to represent leaders.
39:14
First of all, because of the cost of transporting
39:16
this basalt from over 60 km away.
39:21
This implies that a leader of finance this transport.
39:29
The function of these heads was to legitimize power.
39:33
We're informed of a leader.
39:35
The colossal heads show that Olmec society was highly structured.
39:41
It was a highly hierarchical
39:42
society, a centralized government
39:44
that had political, economic,
39:46
religious, and cosmological control and power
39:49
capable of governing an entire city of more than 12,000 inhabitants.
39:55
So, will evidence of the same strong social hierarchy
39:58
and powerful leaders be found at Aguada Fenix?
40:05
So far, the team have found no evidence of elite people.
40:09
To the west of the platform,
40:11
they do unearth a single
40:12
statue, But this is no king.
40:18
The statue probably represents
40:20
a pig-like animal called a white-lipped
40:24
>> That's a pretty nice sculpture.
40:27
>> Until today, this is the earliest
40:29
fully sculpted stone piece
40:32
in what becomes the Maya area.
40:35
>> It was carved about 3,000
40:37
years ago from >> So, it's relatively
40:42
naturalistic representation of animal,
40:45
which is actually very different from Olmec sculpture.
40:49
So, Olmec people emphasized
40:51
the representation of powerful people.
40:53
So, in this sense, it seems to represent very different concept.
40:58
So, that's one of the reason that we think that social
41:02
organization of Aguada Fenix was different from San Lorenzo.
41:09
>> The findings suggest something
41:14
That the immense platform
41:15
of Aguada Fenix was built in the absence
41:18
of a central ruler or elites
41:19
who could control labor
41:21
and force people to work.
41:24
A dramatically different organization to the Olmec.
41:27
>> We are seeing enormous
41:29
construction happening in the very
41:32
early stage without very developed
41:35
hierarchical >> The groups of semi-nomadic
41:40
people who decided to build the giant platform at Aguada Fenix
41:44
once settled and unified enough to be called a distinct
41:49
But, the discoveries here suggest that building this monument
41:53
laid the groundwork for Maya society.
41:56
>> Often people think that the society
41:58
develop, then that makes construction.
42:02
That's partly true, but the another important
42:06
aspect is this kind of
42:08
building project makes the society.
42:11
And that that's what happened here.
42:13
Through the process of construction
42:15
project, they had to develop
42:18
new form of social organization,
42:20
new form of division of labor.
42:23
That possibly led to later Maya society.
42:28
>> Certainly, when we look at the timing,
42:30
I do think that Aguada Fénix could have been
42:33
the start or the foundation
42:35
of what we call later Maya civilization.
42:40
>> This site has transformed
42:41
archaeologists' understanding of the Maya.
42:44
>> It pushes back the date of the beginning.
42:47
We might say that
42:48
the Maya civilization even begins around 1,100 BC.
42:52
I think we need more evidence to say that.
42:55
But it certainly looks
42:58
>> It's a great expression of how discoveries
43:00
can be made right where you've been for a long time.
43:04
And And sometimes things are so big or so
43:08
subtle, you you just don't see them.
43:10
The work at Aguada Fénix
43:12
also really just changes our scope
43:14
of what is monumental.
43:16
>> Aguada Fénix turns out to be the Maya
43:20
at their most monumental.
43:22
So, it flips everything that we assumed.
43:24
It flips this idea
43:27
civilization is this gradual
43:29
growth from >> From the astronomical
43:33
E Group complex for observing
43:35
the sun and marking the passing of time
43:38
to the jade treasures,
43:39
ceramics, and all the evidence
43:43
points towards a time
43:44
when there was a huge amount of movement
43:46
amongst people in the Maya area
43:49
and links with neighboring cultures like the Olmec.
43:52
A massive flow of ideas and coming together of people
43:55
that would be the foundation of Maya civilization.
44:04
In the forests of southern Mexico
44:06
and Central America lies
44:09
the territory of the ancient
44:11
Maya, a civilization that was formed
44:13
well before the Roman Empire existed
44:16
and persisted much longer.
44:19
The Maya have been studied intensively
44:22
exposing the secrets of the society's
44:26
and unmasking the semi-nomadic
44:28
people who lived before the Maya.
44:31
But the events that would transform
44:32
these people into a true civilization remain a mystery.
44:36
>> When do the Maya become Maya?
44:39
That's a good question.
44:41
>> Now, archaeological discoveries are shedding new light on this important
44:45
moment in Maya history.
44:47
>> This would uh be
44:49
um almost like a social reactor.
44:52
>> We have a very
44:53
complex story here of the growth and development of Maya civilization.
44:58
>> Investigators are exposing the key stages
45:01
that led to the civilization's
45:03
formation using the latest technology
45:06
to discover new monuments.
45:08
>> Pyramid to our right
45:10
and another pyramid over here.
45:12
>> And re-examining ancient sites
45:15
to discover the origin
45:16
of Maya >> It's probably the the biggest pyramidal structure
45:20
in all Central America.
45:22
>> From the technological secrets
45:24
of their colossal architecture
45:27
to the emergence of a social elite.
45:30
>> That's a huge moment
45:31
in history >> and development of writing.
45:34
>> There are 3,400 pieces in this puzzle.
45:39
>> The history of the Maya is being traced back
45:41
to its very start.
45:43
>> What we have are all of the major elements
45:46
that then become classic Maya civilization.
45:50
>> Transforming long-held beliefs about the start
45:53
of the Maya civilization.
46:08
>> The Maya were a people renowned
46:10
for their vast stone pyramids,
46:13
elaborate art and culture,
46:15
and their sophisticated writing and understanding of astronomy.
46:20
Their territory stretched from the so-called
46:22
Maya lowlands of southern Mexico and Belize
46:25
to the highlands of Guatemala and beyond.
46:28
This is where the famous lost cities are
46:31
and where Maya descendants still thrive today.
46:35
But despite decades of research,
46:37
the mystery of how
46:39
and when the ancient Maya
46:41
became a true civilization
46:42
has long puzzled historians.
46:46
And the riddle has only got more complex with new discoveries.
46:50
In the Mexican state of Tabasco,
46:52
archaeologists have unearthed an immense
46:55
lost monument, a ceremonial
46:57
platform 1.4 km long
47:01
and 400 m wide,
47:03
known as Aguada Fénix.
47:09
It's the largest monument
47:11
in the entire Maya region,
47:13
and it's also the oldest.
47:15
Construction probably started around 1,100 BC.
47:20
>> The size of Aguada Fénix is very surprising
47:22
because every site that we had
47:24
uh up until now
47:26
is much >> The discovery
47:28
of Aguada Fénix is truly phenomenal.
47:30
So, if you think about the coordination
47:32
and the hours and
47:34
days and months and years that would have taken to create such a monumental
47:38
site, >> that tells us a lot
47:42
about human nature, human capability of organizing themselves.
47:47
So, this is a really a exciting
47:49
time for archaeology, which is showing
47:52
really a fundamental change
47:55
in our understanding of
47:57
development of human society.
48:03
>> Aguada Fenix was built well over a thousand years before the so-called
48:07
classic age of Maya civilization
48:10
during the early pre-classic
48:15
The people who built Aguada Fenix
48:17
are thought to be the ancestors of the Maya.
48:20
But historians don't always label them as the Maya civilization.
48:26
That's because the builders
48:27
around 1000 BC were missing some key
48:34
There are no traces
48:35
of permanent cities with monumental stone architecture.
48:40
There's no evidence of defined social hierarchy
48:43
headed by powerful leaders.
48:46
And there's no sign of writing
48:48
or other cultural traits that would come to define the Maya.
48:52
So how did the Maya develop these hallmarks of civilization?
48:57
And when did it happen?
49:01
Clues lie 500 km away from Aguada Fenix
49:05
in the Mexican state of Yucatan.
49:09
Beneath its dense forest canopy
49:12
Yucatan is home to incredible
49:14
lost Maya cities like Chichen Itza
49:18
with its immense Temple of
49:23
Many of the famous sites in the Yucatan
49:25
date to the Maya Classic era
49:28
and beyond to the arrival of the Spanish on these shores.
49:32
But recently archaeologists have begun to suspect that the region holds much older clues.
49:39
>> We used to think that
49:41
Yucatan was kind of the later part of Maya civilization,
49:44
but recent archaeology has changed that view.
49:47
So Yucatan archaeology is
49:50
fundamental for understanding the beginnings of Maya civilization.
49:55
>> What traces of early Maya life
49:57
are hidden amongst the jungle here?
50:02
In the west of Yucatan
50:04
is an area called the Puuc region.
50:07
Puuc means low hills
50:09
in the local Maya language, Yucatec.
50:13
Archaeologist Evan Parker is hunting for the small villages
50:17
where early Maya people began to settle.
50:20
He discovers his first clue hidden in the thick vegetation.
50:25
>> We see, walking right along here,
50:28
an alignment of stones.
50:31
So, what we're looking at here is an ancient house.
50:35
So, we have this pretty big stone right here,
50:38
this stone right here.
50:39
These are the two corners of this house.
50:43
>> The stones mark out the location
50:45
of a small hut.
50:48
The hut's builders laid a floor of hardened earth between the stones.
50:52
They made a framework using wooden poles.
50:55
Walls were made from earth, and the roof was thatched.
50:59
This isn't an isolated hut.
51:01
It was part of an entire village formed from around 80 similar houses.
51:06
Named today as Paso del Macho.
51:10
>> The buildings didn't look anything like
51:12
what we had seen
51:13
at other Puuc sites.
51:15
There were no carved stones.
51:17
There were no masonry buildings.
51:20
>> But, why such differences
51:22
in structure and material?
51:24
How old is this village?
51:27
Evan unearths fragments of pottery nearby
51:30
that provide the answer.
51:32
Their form and composition
51:34
allow him to find a date for when they were made.
51:41
>> Paso del Macho expanded
51:43
rapidly around 600 BC.
51:46
That's a time during the middle
51:47
of the pre-classic Maya era
51:49
when the civilization was developing.
51:53
>> So, there's definitely a population
51:54
boom that seems to occur
51:56
beginning around 600 For a long time,
52:00
we didn't think that
52:02
there was a middle pre-classic
52:04
occupation of this region.
52:08
>> Finding such an old settlement
52:10
here is surprising because the Puuc region is one of the more inhospitable
52:14
areas of the Maya territory.
52:17
Its land is fertile,
52:18
but its hilly terrain
52:19
is formed from porous
52:21
and fragile limestone soil.
52:24
So, rain that falls in the wet season quickly drains away.
52:29
>> In the Puuc region,
52:30
there are some issues
52:32
that the ancient Maya would have faced with regards to water use.
52:37
The Puuc is raised
52:39
up by several hundred meters,
52:41
which means there is no surface
52:43
uh to be found here.
52:46
>> So, how did early Maya settlers find water here?
52:51
Evan has found clues
52:52
at an abandoned quarry nearby.
52:57
>> So, we can see that this is a natural outcrop of limestone.
53:01
So, most likely what they did was after utilizing
53:04
it as a quarry,
53:05
they laid down either a layer of clay or marl
53:09
and built a wall surrounding it.
53:12
So, that whenever rain comes,
53:13
this would fill up with water.
53:15
This would be an ancient water
53:18
They're still experimenting with hydraulic
53:20
technology at this point.
53:25
>> The development of water storage techniques
53:28
and permanent villages are the early stages
53:30
of Maya And now, a discovery
53:35
a few kilometers away is uncovering
53:37
evidence of larger Archaeologist
53:42
George Bey runs one of the largest excavation
53:45
sites in the Puuc region.
53:48
He's worked at the ancient city of
53:50
the last 23 years.
53:54
K'iwic, like many Maya sites in this region,
53:57
thrived during the classic era of the Maya.
54:01
>> During the late classic, the Puuc region was intensely occupied.
54:05
There were hundreds of thousands of people.
54:07
There were dozens of sites.
54:08
There were hundreds of villages.
54:11
Uh and a great deal of wealth was accrued
54:13
both by people of moderate
54:15
power and people of great power.
54:17
So, between 800 and 1,000,
54:19
this was one of the centers
54:21
of the Maya >> The ruins of the city of K'iwic
54:25
are dominated by a large pyramid.
54:28
And nearby, the remains of a palace.
54:31
George has dated these two monuments to 650 AD.
54:36
He wants to understand
54:37
how K'iwic developed and when it was founded.
54:42
And when his team searched between the two central monuments,
54:45
they unearthed an older structure
54:47
hidden The discoveries take them much further back in time than they expected.
54:55
>> This building up here is a late
54:57
uh classic structure, probably
54:59
dating to around 650-700
55:05
But as we continue
55:06
to excavate the unit,
55:08
we came down on
55:10
uh a fourth floor,
55:11
which was very exciting
55:13
because suddenly the ceramics
55:15
indicated we jumped back in time for around 600 BC.
55:21
A huge leap in time.
55:24
>> The deeper George's team digs,
55:26
the farther they travel into the past.
55:29
>> The sixth floor uh represents
55:31
the original construction of
55:34
the K'iwic >> And if you look down here, I'm standing on bedrock.
55:40
>> George's team has unearthed
55:42
six successive stages of construction.
55:45
Each archaeological layer takes them back several centuries.
55:50
The lowest one is the oldest,
55:51
forming a platform or plaza
55:54
14 m wide and 1 m thick.
55:59
Investigations show the site dates back to at least 900
56:03
BC, the early middle preclassic era.
56:06
And it's home to the oldest ceremonial
56:08
plaza ever found in the Puuc region.
56:11
K'iwik is 1,500 years older
56:14
than the remains at the site surface.
56:17
>> So, we now were astounded
56:18
because K'iwik shows that there was major middle preclassic occupation.
56:24
The Maya had moved
56:25
deep into the Puuc hills
56:27
and were building substantial platforms like this.
56:30
So, now we recognize
56:32
that the Puuc region
56:34
was first occupied as early as 900 BC.
56:39
And we have a very
56:40
complex story here of the growth and development
56:43
of preclassic Maya civilization.
56:47
>> This settlement might have been one of the first
56:49
Maya sites in Yucatan.
56:52
Proving the Maya were here
56:54
and beginning to settle
56:56
in villages and cities much earlier than archaeologists once believed.
57:01
Now, investigations nearby are uncovering
57:04
the scale of the settlement across this area.
57:12
In the forests of Mexico's
57:14
Yucatan, archaeologist Bill Ringle
57:17
is looking for evidence of Maya settlements.
57:23
>> So, you can see on the
57:24
GPS pyramid to our right
57:27
and another pyramid over here.
57:29
The bigger structures are
57:31
further along the >> These structures
57:34
haven't been excavated yet,
57:36
but are believed to date to between 700 and 450 BC.
57:42
Today, all that remains visible
57:45
are piles of stones that were once Maya monuments.
57:48
>> This particular site is right at the edge of a large,
57:52
what we call a planada,
57:54
plains, very fertile soil.
57:56
So, this is an excellent place to grow crops.
57:59
And one reason these people
58:01
decided to stay here
58:02
was probably to claim ownership of that area.
58:07
So, we are very interested to see how people
58:09
dispose themselves across this
58:13
>> To understand how the first Maya settled in this area,
58:16
Bill uses LiDAR It's an airborne laser system that scans the ground through the
58:23
densest >> If you survey
58:27
a landscape like this
58:28
as totally overgrown, and
58:31
have to cut your way through, it's incredibly laborious.
58:34
And that's what we can do with LiDAR.
58:35
We can see the sizes,
58:36
the extent of entire sites.
58:39
Just like that, we can do
58:40
30, 40 years of work
58:42
in maybe a couple of days with the LiDAR.
58:46
>> Bill used this technology
58:48
to scan a large area around the site.
58:53
>> And the results exposed
58:54
widespread occupation of the region.
58:57
>> Okay, so this is our original LiDAR sample that covers about 237 square kilometers.
59:02
And within that, we have about 75 sites.
59:05
The red dots are
59:07
smaller sites, and the red triangles are bigger sites.
59:10
The blue dots here are reservoirs,
59:12
which seem to have been at least partially
59:15
artificial, constructed by humans.
59:17
The one at Yaxhom is almost 300 m in length.
59:20
We estimate to be around
59:22
21 million liters of water,
59:25
which could have supported
59:27
thousands of people for
59:28
a long period of time.
59:31
>> Bill's discoveries show that early Maya
59:34
were beginning to settle and farm here on a large scale.
59:39
The reservoirs were capable of supplying
59:40
water to thousands of people. City-sized populations.
59:47
But settlements and cities are only part of the developments
59:50
needed for a group of people to form a civilization.
59:54
To become a cohesive society,
59:57
the Maya would need a shared identity.
60:03
At a laboratory in the town of Ojer Kab,
60:06
Evan Parker is investigating
60:08
artifacts he discovered in the village of Paso del Macho.
60:12
He's joined by archaeologist George Bey.
60:15
Some of these offerings
60:16
are dated as early as 800 BC.
60:20
The treasures assembled here were ritually deposited
60:22
in the offering Evan a clue
60:25
about the beliefs of these early Maya.
60:29
>> They want to ideologically mark this space.
60:33
And one way that you can do that
60:35
is by doing a place-making ceremony.
60:38
And in this case,
60:39
they are uh the creation
60:42
of one of the most
60:44
uh important deities in Maya religion,
60:47
and that's the rebirth
60:48
of the maize god.
60:52
>> The maize god plays a central
60:54
role in Maya mythology.
60:57
Maize was key to Maya survival.
60:59
As long as there was water,
61:01
the crop grew well in the climate.
61:03
And crucially, the grains could be stored for many
61:07
An important step in the formation
61:09
of a civilization, as food security
61:12
affords a society time to focus
61:15
on culture and religion.
61:18
Maize became religiously significant.
61:21
The Maya believed that the gods created humans from ground maize.
61:27
The objects here suggest that this creation
61:30
myth existed among the Maya from early in their civilization's
61:36
>> So, this is one of the earliest instances
61:38
of Maya religion as we've understood
61:41
it for a very long time appearing
61:43
during the middle pre-classic. >> Right.
61:44
So, it's not just
61:45
religion, it's a very specific
61:48
set of ideas associated with Maya religion.
61:52
>> The discovery exposes the spread of religious ideas
61:56
that would become a central
61:57
pillar of Maya society.
61:59
A common link that helps define groups of people
62:02
as a single civilization.
62:05
Now, Evan thinks that these artifacts
62:07
hold clues about where some of these religious ideas might have originated.
62:13
>> So, these objects all have drilled holes in them.
62:18
>> So, you could have run a cord through them.
62:20
You could have worn them as pendants.
62:23
You could have worn them on a belt.
62:24
They could have been displayed
62:26
uh at eye level, tied to a post or something like that. >> Everyone has perforation.
62:30
>> Every single one of these has perforations.
62:33
We look at these different objects,
62:35
we see that they're crafted
62:37
in a style that has often been described as >> Olmec.
62:41
So, for example, this piece here
62:44
is what's been called Olmec blue jade.
62:48
>> These are thought to be
62:49
objects that have been carved in the Olmec area
62:52
and then moved here.
62:53
>> What's so amazing about it
62:56
is that these artifacts
62:57
were brought this great distance.
62:59
They were interacting directly
63:01
with people hundreds and hundreds
63:03
and hundreds of miles away.
63:06
>> The discovery suggests that these early Maya
63:09
had contact with the Olmec
63:11
civilization and shared aspects
63:14
of their religious beliefs.
63:17
The Olmec are the oldest society
63:18
in this part of the Americas, predating the Maya.
63:23
Now, discoveries at an Olmec stronghold
63:26
suggest that this civilization
63:28
shared more than religious beliefs with the Maya.
63:33
500 km from the Puuc region,
63:36
in the Mexican state
63:37
of Tabasco, is La Venta,
63:40
the most prominent Olmec city of its time.
63:48
Archaeologist Rebecca Storey has been studying this area for almost 40 years.
63:54
>> La Venta was definitely
63:55
a very important city for its time in the first millennium before Christ.
63:59
It was a city that had no comparison.
64:04
People would come to see it or to visit it either for
64:07
religious reasons or for the economy,
64:10
for the the trading,
64:11
or maybe for political reasons.
64:14
>> La Venta was occupied
64:15
between about 1,200 and 400 BC.
64:20
In the middle of their city,
64:21
the Olmec built an innovative new monument.
64:26
An architectural revolution that would become an iconic
64:30
part of Maya culture.
64:37
At the heart of La Venta
64:39
lies a mysterious vegetation-covered mound.
64:43
But this is no natural hill.
64:47
It's thought to be the oldest pyramid in
64:50
built almost 3,000 years ago by the Olmec.
64:53
A mega monument soaring some 32
64:56
m high and built of clay.
65:00
It rests on a 120-m
65:02
wide platform and is formed
65:04
from 90,000 cubic meters of material.
65:11
>> It's probably the biggest
65:12
pyramidal structure in all ancient Mexico and Guatemala in Central America.
65:17
It is the oldest pyramid of this size.
65:19
The original form of it, we think, was
65:22
with four staircases, one in each side.
65:28
>> The Maya would eventually
65:29
learn to build giant stone pyramids
65:32
that could withstand the elements.
65:35
Archaeologists believe that the pyramid form had mythological significance.
65:41
>> Pyramids were conceived of as artificial hills or mountains.
65:47
The later pyramids of the Maya at Chichen Itza
65:51
or Copan or Palenque
65:52
were specifically identified as
65:56
>> Um mountains are important places.
65:58
It's a high place.
65:59
These places that are
66:00
mountaintops, places that you're closer
66:02
to the other world, the celestial world.
66:05
And so, the concept of a sacred mountain
66:08
seems like it's a very long, deep tradition.
66:14
>> Just like at La Venta,
66:16
the pyramids of the Maya cities
66:17
are often composed of two superimposed
66:20
elements, a massive base
66:23
on which a pyramid temple is built.
66:26
The pedestal elevates the temple,
66:29
showing that the divine
66:30
king is superior to his subjects.
66:34
This symbolic function already existed
66:36
at the time of the Olmec.
66:40
La Venta was probably a sacred place of pilgrimage
66:43
to which people from all over the area would have come to attend lavish ceremonies.
66:48
From the top of the pyramid,
66:50
priests could see for dozens
66:52
of kilometers and be seen themselves
66:55
by those in the plazas below.
66:58
>> The fact that you standing at the top here, you have a view 360°
67:02
around, and that's very powerful.
67:04
And you Not only can you control
67:06
what goes around you,
67:07
but people can see you.
67:09
I think only the people who were performing
67:11
the ceremonies were in this area.
67:14
And the elite might be in the platform
67:16
at the base of the pyramid,
67:17
and then the really
67:19
normal people at in the plaza.
67:24
>> Olmec social structure was itself
67:28
based on a deeply unequal society
67:30
with a powerful leader at the top.
67:33
>> La Venta in terms of architecture
67:35
represents the concentration of power.
67:39
It does show planning,
67:41
organization, the management of manpower,
67:44
and the management of resources,
67:46
of being able to to gather
67:48
earth from wherever they gathered earth
67:50
to bring it here and build this.
67:53
>> The Maya shared many traits with their Olmec neighbors.
67:57
But when did the first traces of hierarchical
67:59
organization appear amongst the Maya?
68:03
When did an all-powerful
68:04
Maya elite emerge to rule over their cities?
68:13
In the Yucatán, archaeologists
68:15
have spent decades looking for clues.
68:18
Now, at the ancient Maya city of K'u Uk,
68:22
George Bey has made an astonishing
68:24
discovery near the upper layers of the platform
68:26
he Beneath the temple and palace of the
68:34
are the remains of two buildings
68:36
dating to around 600 BC.
68:39
Once built of wood and palm leaves,
68:42
they are elevated on small individual
68:44
raised platforms facing each other at either end of a much larger platform.
68:50
Their layout is identical
68:51
to that of the temple and palace that was built during the classic age.
68:56
This could be evidence
68:58
of the emergence of a social hierarchy
69:00
in this Maya city.
69:02
>> So, that building would have been facing
69:04
out onto this plaza
69:06
and would have been the focal point.
69:08
It could have been that in the pre-classic
69:11
you had a temple
69:12
on one end and maybe
69:14
a house for um emerging
69:17
social stratification uh a chief
69:20
or tribal members who are higher
69:24
I think what you're starting
69:25
to see is increasing social complexity.
69:31
>> George's discovery exposes an early example
69:34
of elite people controlling a Maya city.
69:39
Now, new evidence unearthed
69:41
nearby is exposing the lives
69:43
of one of these elite early Maya people.
69:51
In Paso del Macho,
69:53
Evan Parker has found clues that suggest
69:55
that there were elite Maya even earlier than at K'iwik.
70:00
He unearthed the remains of a male
70:04
who was buried with a necklace
70:05
and bracelet made of seashells
70:07
around 800 >> One of the interesting things about
70:12
grave goods like this is that they often times
70:14
reflect the status or the role
70:18
of whatever individual they're buried with.
70:22
Paso del Macho is an inland settlement.
70:25
So, these would have had to have been obtained
70:27
either through an expedition
70:29
to the coast or through trade routes.
70:32
This would have taken
70:33
a high amount of labor in order to carve these.
70:36
>> Alongside the jewelry, Evan found another unusual object.
70:41
>> We have not found
70:42
anything like this in all of northern
70:44
Yucatan with any burials before.
70:47
This is a form of white
70:49
jadeite seems to be
70:53
like an axe, but the color is unique
70:56
and what really makes it unique
70:58
are these series of inscribed
71:02
>> Evan thinks the artifact
71:03
might have been worn on the head of high-status
71:08
>> So, the fact that they're young
71:09
and that they are buried with
71:11
an incredibly rare object, which we've never seen anywhere else before,
71:14
suggests that there is some degree
71:17
of hereditary inequality or ascribed inequality.
71:21
That's a huge moment
71:22
throughout history, whenever we go from people
71:25
being able to simply achieve high status
71:30
to being able to
71:31
uh have it ascribed
71:33
to >> With the emergence
71:35
of a hereditary social elite,
71:37
the groundwork was laid for the powerful
71:39
kings and lavish palaces
71:41
that the Maya civilization
71:43
would become known for.
71:45
But hierarchy and social structure
71:47
is only part of what makes a civilization.
71:51
Now, archaeologists are unearthing
71:54
evidence of the rise of a shared culture
71:56
amongst these early Maya.
72:01
20 km from where he found the elite
72:05
in the forest of the Puuc region,
72:07
Evan is investigating the remains of a
72:10
>> What we're looking at right here
72:12
is the corner and back side
72:15
of an ancient Maya ball court.
72:18
So, it's one of the oldest
72:20
ball courts in all of northern Yucatán.
72:24
>> It's where a ball game was
72:26
one of the most iconic
72:27
cultural markers of the Maya.
72:30
>> So, most likely what
72:31
would be under the ground here would be a single retaining
72:35
wall for the back side of the ball
72:37
Uh and then there might have been a series of steps,
72:40
or there might be additional
72:41
architecture on top of the mound, perhaps a covered area.
72:45
So, this would be a place of spectatorship,
72:47
it would be a place for celebration,
72:49
for partying, and maybe we could imagine
72:51
that there would be people here serving
72:53
food or drink to those ready to enjoy the ball game.
72:58
>> The remains of this site
73:00
date to between 600 and 500 BC.
73:04
And across this area,
73:05
archaeologists have unearthed another 25
73:08
ball courts from the same period.
73:12
The Maya ball game might have originated in this region.
73:16
>> The fact that there are so many ball
73:18
courts in this region
73:21
suggests that it was integral,
73:24
it was foundational to
73:26
the social fabric of the
73:28
And because ball courts are so prevalent
73:31
here compared to other areas of the Maya world,
73:33
should we begin to ask ourselves,
73:35
is this where the prototypical
73:38
Maya ball game really starts
73:40
off and then it spreads throughout the Maya world
73:43
uh more broadly during the classic
73:48
>> This game would become integral
73:49
to Maya cultural identity
73:52
until the present day.
74:01
The ball game is still practiced
74:02
in Maya The goal is to return the ball to the opponent's
74:06
side without using hands or
74:10
It's more than a simple leisure sport.
74:13
It's a game of symbolism.
74:16
The ball represents the movement of celestial bodies.
74:20
The game embodies the balance
74:22
of the In the Puuc forests,
74:28
Evan thinks that the ball courts aren't just a marker of Maya civilization.
74:32
Perhaps they were a driver of it.
74:35
>> Whenever you have such prominent
74:37
architecture like a ball court on a site,
74:39
this maybe suggests that
74:42
it is the focal
74:43
point of community identity.
74:46
This is a game that is creating communal ties.
74:50
Um so this would uh be
74:52
um almost like a social reactor.
74:56
>> Around 500 BC, through the development
74:59
of culture and common identity,
75:01
the emergence of permanent
75:03
cities and the growth of powerful
75:05
elite, the Maya civilization
75:07
was beginning to And soon they would start to build the grand and lavish
75:12
stone cities that would make the Maya world-famous today.
75:22
In the Puuc region of Mexico,
75:24
archaeologist Tomás Gallareta is excavating
75:27
a site known as Chok
75:31
A pyramid made of stone
75:32
sits at its Tomás believes
75:36
this was the focal point of large-scale
75:38
ceremonies that attracted worshipers
75:41
from across the region.
75:44
>> Around 450 BC, this place must have been impressive.
75:51
Especially for the peasants
75:52
who didn't live here.
75:53
All those who came from rural
75:57
when they came here,
75:59
they probably realized that this was a really important place.
76:05
>> During its heyday, it was an impressive
76:09
The 20-m tall stone pyramid
76:12
was at the heart of a huge ceremonial
76:15
with eight smaller structures
76:16
flanking all built on top of a platform
76:20
made from 150,000 cubic meters of material
76:25
that formed a wide and open
76:28
a colossal monument for its time.
76:32
>> This is one of the greatest. It's monumental.
76:35
It's about 130 m on each side.
76:38
So, if you look at the The of this
76:41
it's really incredible that they built it at such an early time.
76:46
Given the size main square
76:50
it was able to accommodate the whole community.
76:54
It's like a mini stadium.
76:56
So, it was probably a gathering
76:59
place for different kinds of festivities
77:03
or >> To build in stone at such scale
77:08
the Maya would need to figure out how to support the weight of the giant pyramid.
77:13
To solve the mystery of how the Maya managed it
77:16
Tomas and his team
77:18
excavate an 8 m deep investigatory
77:21
shaft exposing the platform's ingenious internal structure.
77:30
Under the surface of the plaza
77:31
Maya builders constructed a network
77:34
of interlinking walls forming a series
77:37
of rigid stone cells.
77:39
These foundations spread out the weight of the monuments
77:42
they built >> This cellular
77:47
technique is known in the monumental
77:49
constructions of many other important sites.
77:52
It's a technique that becomes
77:54
widely used during the classic period.
77:57
It shows that there was a lot of investment here.
78:01
The lords of this place
78:02
managed to be so powerful
78:04
that they were able to sponsor
78:06
and support the construction
78:08
of work as large as this.
78:11
>> The ingenious construction of this giant monument
78:14
was overseen by powerful
78:16
city Evidence of the constant
78:19
progression of this society
78:21
towards increasing hierarchy but also
78:24
a sign of a technological
78:26
shift in the Maya civilization
78:28
towards the use of cut
78:31
>> This technology is much more advanced
78:34
than the type of earthen
78:36
architecture that we have
78:38
before the middle preclassic
78:39
at places like La Venta,
78:41
for example, where most of the buildings
78:43
are made of just
78:45
packed clay or earth.
78:48
And so, because the Maya were able to use limestone
78:50
and mortar, they could
78:52
create more vertical buildings.
78:55
>> The change that happened from these small settlements
78:59
to these late preclassic
79:01
sites was truly a remarkable time.
79:03
If you think about a span of a few centuries
79:06
and all of a sudden you have these large constructions.
79:11
>> The race for monumentality
79:13
would increase over the centuries.
79:15
Becoming one of the markers of the classic era of Maya civilization.
79:20
It was their mastery
79:21
of stone that enabled
79:23
Maya builders to construct
79:24
a series of magnificent
79:26
cities over a remarkable
79:28
1,500 year time span.
79:34
In Chucknak, Tomas has discovered evidence that shows how building techniques
79:39
were gradually improved and perfected over time.
79:44
>> Here we can see the last two stages of the construction of the pyramid.
79:49
In the first one,
79:50
they built this type of wall,
79:52
which although it's slightly inclined is rather vertical.
79:55
Then another ruler came
79:57
and decided it was better to cover it with other types of stones like these.
80:03
At the same time, the advantage was
80:06
that it gave the walls greater
80:07
resistance to or being pushed out.
80:16
>> From their reinforced foundations
80:18
to their perfection of building techniques,
80:21
stone became the most important
80:23
building material for the Maya.
80:25
By at least 450
80:27
BC, the Maya were living in large cities with powerful
80:31
rulers and monumental architecture
80:33
in the form of stone pyramids.
80:37
They were practicing ball games
80:38
that gave people living in cities far apart
80:41
a common identity and culture.
80:44
But one mark of a civilization remains.
80:50
And understanding exactly how and when
80:53
the Maya developed this crucial skill
80:55
has alluded investigators for decades.
81:01
>> Today, the Maya are revered
81:03
as the greatest ancient society
81:05
in the And their writing and art plays a huge part in how they
81:10
have captured popular It's allowed ancient
81:14
ideas to span the
81:17
Now an incredible discovery
81:19
is transforming long-held ideas
81:21
about the development of this crucial
81:23
element of Maya identity.
81:29
300 km from Mexico's
81:31
Yucatan state in the Petén region
81:34
on the border of Guatemala
81:35
and Belize a site called San Bartolo
81:39
has transformed archaeologists understanding
81:41
of the Maya civilization.
81:44
Investigators unearthed a priceless
81:46
treasure here within a temple known as Las Pinturas.
81:52
Buried several meters underground,
81:54
they uncover evidence of ancient
81:56
Maya paintings and writing.
81:58
David Stuart is part of the team who excavated this site.
82:03
>> This was one of the great
82:04
surprises of our excavations at San Bartolo.
82:07
Not only did we find
82:09
early writing in the murals
82:11
of San Bartolo at 100 BC
82:15
but earlier architecture beneath
82:19
that building going back to about 300
82:22
BC also revealed fragments of of walls.
82:27
>> If the older walls were inscribed,
82:29
too, they would be the oldest examples
82:32
of Maya writing ever found.
82:36
Among the fragments, one piece catches David's eye.
82:40
>> When I was at the site,
82:42
looking at a number of these fragments
82:44
in our rustic jungle camp,
82:46
there was one of them that had
82:48
uh little painted hieroglyphs.
82:50
And I looked at it and I was like, "There is a date." an ancient date.
82:55
And it was the number
82:57
And it was the head of a deer. Seven deer.
83:05
>> Seven deer is writing that designates
83:08
a day in the sacred Maya calendar.
83:12
Radiocarbon dating shows that the inscription
83:15
was made between 300
83:17
and 200 The discoveries
83:20
transformed long-held ideas about when Maya writing
83:25
>> An absolutely stunning discovery that we had no preparation for, really.
83:30
Our thinking before San Bartolo
83:32
was the earliest Maya writing was maybe
83:34
at the beginning of the classic period.
83:37
>> Maya writing from the classic
83:39
period of 250 to 900
83:41
AD is well They used symbols
83:46
to represent whole words or syllables.
83:49
The evidence at San Bartolo
83:51
exposes the origin of the system.
83:53
>> It's clearly the same writing system we have from >> later Maya civilization.
83:58
The discovery of tells us that
84:01
uh I think the Maya
84:03
were developing their own writing.
84:07
They didn't borrow it from somewhere else.
84:14
>> Archaeologist Heather Hurst was involved in the excavation
84:17
of the site alongside David Stuart.
84:21
At the University of Texas at Austin,
84:24
archaeologists have reconstructed a section of the images found at San Bartolo.
84:30
It's almost 12 m long.
84:33
>> Every time we look at this thing,
84:34
we see new things.
84:36
>> There's a new face.
84:37
>> It took 10 years to conserve
84:39
and reassemble the images.
84:41
>> There are 3,400 pieces in this puzzle.
84:46
Every detail is painted.
84:47
So, the lines of the bird,
84:49
the arc, the figure's body,
84:52
even the strands of the hair.
84:53
This tells us that
84:55
the painters were expert. >> Painters.
84:58
Ex- Truly master artists.
85:00
The incredible thing is
85:02
a thousand years later,
85:03
they're using the same techniques.
85:07
>> The paintings and writings from San Bartolo
85:09
help historians understand Maya beliefs
85:12
that were developing at the
85:15
>> Well, what we're seeing on the walls
85:16
that are preserved is an overwhelming
85:20
array of images of Maya deities
85:23
and scenes of Maya
85:25
>> To see what the Maya were
85:28
believing and >> seeing in their own world in color,
85:32
it's >> The early Maya
85:37
prepared these walls using a material known as stucco.
85:42
It's a plaster that the Maya used to cover walls before painting with colored
85:48
The same technique would allow the Maya to adorn the walls of their cities
85:52
with incredible decorations a few centuries
85:56
The discoveries at San Bartolo
85:58
help put a date
85:59
to the emergence of the Maya
86:00
as a true civilization.
86:03
>> One of the things that I think it tells us,
86:05
this early writing, is that there is
86:08
remarkable degree of cultural
86:11
unity among the pre-classic
86:14
Maya of that time.
86:15
See, starting around 500,
86:17
400 BC, that's probably
86:20
when this crystallizes, when we see a unification
86:24
in this expression of culture and
86:27
>> The development of writing and art
86:30
allowed the Maya to become one of the most advanced
86:32
and enduring civilizations of Central America.
86:37
Piece by piece, the mystery of how the Maya civilization
86:41
began is finally being assembled by archaeologists.
86:45
>> So, how do we envision
86:46
the transition from a simple
86:49
egalitarian society and a more complex stratified society?
86:54
It's not just a single jump.
86:56
>> And the material culture shows us that these
86:59
small cities had far-flung connections,
87:02
and they were trading with others and both
87:04
regionally and from very far away.
87:08
>> There are lots of of changes
87:10
that take place in that period.
87:12
What we have by the end of that
87:15
are all of the major elements
87:17
that then become classic Maya
87:21
So, monumental architecture, the writing system is there, the calendar is already there.
87:26
So, the pre-classic is really what set the stage
87:30
for everything that came
87:32
>> Archaeological excavations and discoveries
87:35
across Mexico and Central America
87:38
are offering new clues
87:39
about how the great Maya civilization
87:43
exposing the process by which the Maya began to settle
87:46
and learn to make the immense stone monuments they would become famous for,
87:51
and how their culture
87:52
and shared identity evolved through ball games, art, and writing,
87:57
the foundations of a society
87:59
that would endure until the present day.
88:08
In the forests of southern Mexico
88:10
and Central America, arose
88:12
a powerful and complex the Maya.
88:18
From their early beginnings
88:19
as semi-nomadic groups, they would develop sophisticated
88:23
writing, astronomy, and engineering.
88:27
>> All of these things are hallmarks
88:28
of a great society.
88:30
>> Their construction of vast stone cities
88:33
and towering pyramids heralded
88:35
the arrival of a golden age.
88:37
>> Somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 people lived here.
88:42
So, this was a great
88:44
>> But within 700 years,
88:46
this civilization collapsed and many of its cities were
88:51
>> The forest grew back and eventually just took over.
88:54
>> Now, teams of archaeologists
88:56
want to solve the mystery of this >> That fantastic.
89:01
The design is very unique
89:03
for this period of time.
89:05
>> They're unearthing remarkable new evidence of poisoned water.
89:09
>> One drop on your tongue would kill you.
89:12
>> And vicious jungle battles.
89:14
>> These pictures can help us to understand >> Hidden temples.
89:20
>> A thousand six hundred years ago,
89:22
a Maya person would be here
89:24
is standing on front of a building.
89:26
>> And divine rulers who began to lose their grip on power.
89:31
>> How did What did we just find?
89:34
>> In the process, they unravel
89:35
the true story of the Maya
89:37
at this crucial point in their history
89:40
and expose the sequence
89:41
of events that forced them to desert their cities.
89:58
In the rainforest of northern Guatemala,
90:02
lies one of the world's greatest
90:04
lost Built by the ancient Maya civilization
90:10
some 2,000 years ago.
90:13
Archaeologist Edwin Roman Ramirez
90:17
has been exploring this region for the past 20 years.
90:21
Today, the tropical rainforest
90:23
obscures all but the tallest pyramids.
90:28
>> When you look over here, you have to imagine
90:30
that over here was covered
90:32
by houses, like at least 23 km that way.
90:36
Was not a single tree.
90:37
Maybe some areas that were farming, uh some gardens.
90:41
Was a very large city.
90:43
Tikal was almost like sq km. It's huge. It's massive.
90:49
Everywhere that you see here
90:51
will be a building.
90:53
Will be a house.
90:56
>> Investigations and aerial scanning at Tikal
90:59
have allowed archaeologists to understand
91:01
what the city once looked like.
91:09
When Tikal was in its prime,
91:11
it was The Maya built a dense
91:14
ceremonial center with at least five pyramids
91:18
towering up to 70 m tall.
91:21
Tikal was once home to an estimated 90,000 people.
91:26
>> They were some of the largest building in the Maya world for sure at that time.
91:31
And you can see how they start to get very more creative
91:34
and this is the hallmark of Tikal.
91:39
>> Today, more than 6,000
91:41
ancient structures have been identified
91:43
in Grand monuments built during the so-called
91:47
classic era of the Maya civilization.
91:52
The era was the golden age of the Maya.
91:54
>> It lasted from around 250 to 900 AD.
91:59
It was when many great cities were built.
92:02
>> When we refer to the Maya, we're talking about
92:05
huge settlements that we can call capitals,
92:07
but of course all the area was highly populated.
92:10
I mean, the achievements
92:12
they have, the development,
92:13
their technology, it's >> During the 8th century,
92:19
estimates range from 7 to 11 million people.
92:23
I mean, you compare that to any part of the world in that period,
92:26
this is >> The classic
92:28
era was marked by the presence of powerful
92:31
kings ruling from their pyramid-filled cities.
92:35
>> They achieved something that
92:37
the Egyptians never did, really steep um pyramids.
92:41
>> The king positioned himself
92:44
at the top of those pyramids
92:46
and officiating the most important rituals
92:49
as if the personified deity itself.
92:52
So, those buildings legitimized
92:54
the supernatural source of power
92:57
of Maya kings and queens.
93:00
>> In places like Tikal,
93:02
the rulers lived with other elite people near the city's ceremonial heart.
93:06
But valuable clues about Tikal's history
93:09
and fate could lie in the homes of common people.
93:16
In the east of the city,
93:18
Edwin's colleague, Cristina Garcia Liahl,
93:21
is excavating the house of a non-elite
93:25
It was a Maya tradition
93:26
to bury their dead beneath the floors of buildings.
93:29
And the team recently discovered a body
93:33
>> Good Look how it's going over here. >> It's good.
93:36
We removed the body and now we have
93:39
the three last vessels to clean.
93:42
They look so good.
93:42
They are not broken.
93:43
They don't have any scratches.
93:46
>> Nope, not broken and this one has um it's polychromed.
93:49
Both of you >> Oh, both of them? >> That's fantastic.
93:53
>> So, this is um
93:55
it was it's a cup
93:56
and it was used for drinking hot chocolate.
93:59
And as it's a very
94:02
normal thing to drink back then.
94:03
A very common drink.
94:05
So, you can see there was a line coming here,
94:07
red on top, a black line coming underneath,
94:10
and you can see that there were figures
94:12
drawn in it and a red border in the bottom.
94:15
So, these three vessels
94:16
are um part of the offering associated
94:19
to the burial that we found here.
94:22
So, you can see
94:22
the body was laid this way.
94:25
There was also another
94:26
plate that was turned upside down and placed behind the head
94:30
of the individual as a sort of pillow or a resting place for the head.
94:39
>> The design is very unique
94:41
for this period of time and that will help us to date this burial.
94:46
>> Edwin can use these ceramics
94:48
and others unearthed across Tikal
94:50
to reconstruct a timeline
94:52
of the city and find out how Tikal
94:55
fits into the history
94:56
of the Maya Classic era.
95:02
At his field laboratory,
95:03
Edwin's team study pottery artifacts
95:06
they've unearthed in dwellings of common people at Tikal.
95:11
The techniques that the Maya used to manufacture
95:13
and decorate ceramics changed over time.
95:17
The team can link these telltale
95:19
changes to specific time periods.
95:23
>> In this small table we are seeing more than a thousand years of occupation
95:26
of We can see through ceramics
95:29
that this is the beginning of Tikal. They are monochromatic.
95:33
Uh normally they are red,
95:35
black, and this is when Tikal was really small city.
95:40
>> This pottery is from 350
95:42
BC after the Maya had settled here and established the city.
95:47
>> And now we can see a change.
95:48
This is the beginning of the Classic period.
95:51
We start to have more colors
95:52
and what we are seeing over here
95:54
is a change of technology.
95:56
This is around the year 250,
95:58
and this is when Tikal start to become the more important city
96:02
in the Maya region.
96:04
Later on, we start to have another type.
96:06
This is the classic
96:07
period from around 600 to 800 AD.
96:12
This is when Tikal was in his peak.
96:14
Here we are seeing the last 200
96:15
years of passion of
96:17
And you can see again,
96:18
the shape is different.
96:20
And that how ceramics
96:21
help us to see a reconstruct
96:24
this society from the beginning to the end.
96:27
>> The evidence shows that Tikal's power
96:30
spanned the full duration
96:31
of the Maya Classic era.
96:35
>> And it reveals that at the end of that era,
96:38
around 900 AD, Tikal was mysteriously deserted.
96:44
The Maya left this immense city
96:47
and abandoned its pyramids
96:48
to the jungle, never to return
96:51
and build large-scale monuments here again.
96:57
Investigations across the Maya region have shown that Tikal wasn't alone.
97:02
Many cities, particularly in the Maya lowlands, were deserted.
97:07
The building of grand monuments
97:09
suddenly >> Whatever system existed
97:14
in 500 and 600
97:16
and 700, it broke down
97:19
between 8 and 900
97:20
AD, such that most
97:24
classic Maya kingdoms were simply abandoned to the forest.
97:28
People could not live there anymore.
97:30
>> Public buildings were abandoned
97:33
because to really have
97:35
public buildings in good shape,
97:38
you need to have a good government,
97:39
and you have to have some kind of social stability.
97:43
>> The mystery of what caused the collapse
97:46
of urban Maya society
97:47
in this area has puzzled
97:49
archaeologists for One long-standing
97:55
theory is that cities ran out of water for their growing
98:00
>> You're not supposed to have giant
98:02
cities in a tropical forest.
98:05
It's thin soils, few rivers,
98:08
uh and a long dry season.
98:11
And the real secret of the Mayas
98:13
is their ability to preserve
98:15
water during a dry season,
98:17
which to the north
98:18
at places like Tikal is 6 months.
98:24
>> In Tikal today, Edwin has mapped and investigated
98:27
more than 70 square kilometers around the city.
98:31
So, he understands the challenge the Maya faced.
98:35
>> The closest rivers are like 30 km
98:38
far away from Tikal.
98:39
And the lake at least 40 km away.
98:43
The Mayas need to get creative
98:45
and they start to think how we can survive
98:47
in this very difficult environment.
98:49
Our colleagues have been excavating
98:51
this area and we know that was modified by the Maya.
98:54
There used to be a natural
98:57
uh spring that runs
98:59
behind the palace in Tikal.
99:01
What they did is they start to build dams.
99:06
>> The Maya built an ingenious
99:08
system of reservoirs to collect and store water at Tikal.
99:12
Some reservoirs were even fitted with a filtration system.
99:19
Builders imported sand and a special rock called zeolite
99:22
from over 25 km away,
99:25
allowing water to run through it
99:27
and be Reservoirs concentrated
99:31
the population and the power of rulers who controlled the city.
99:39
Now, a The think that investigating
99:41
the reservoirs forensically might expose
99:43
clues about why cities were abandoned.
99:47
David Lentz is an archaeobotanist
99:50
who specializes in the study of ancient living environments.
99:54
His team has already taken samples from reservoirs
99:56
in Tikal and is now working
99:59
at an ancient Maya city 90 km away called Calakmul.
100:04
>> This is an interesting
100:05
site because it was right next to the palace area here.
100:09
So, if you can imagine
100:10
there were 24 million liters of water in this reservoir.
100:14
So, it was an enormous structure.
100:17
If I was back in Maya times, I would be underwater right now.
100:21
>> Today, he's taking samples
100:23
of genetic material known as environmental or eDNA.
100:29
He'll use the samples
100:30
to identify the organisms
100:32
present in the water.
100:33
>> We're going to look at the vegetation
100:35
that surrounded the reservoirs
100:37
and what kind of plants they grew for food.
100:41
There are many mysteries
100:42
and hopefully we'll provide some answers.
100:46
Now, what we're going to do is we're going to shave down the wall.
100:50
Try to keep it clean because you can see this is kind of older stuff here.
100:53
It's been exposed for a few days.
100:56
So, we want everything to be nice and fresh for us.
100:59
We're going to take one
101:00
eDNA sample from each 20 cm.
101:05
>> David will take these samples
101:07
to his The results
101:10
from this reservoir and from Tikal
101:13
will expose new evidence
101:15
about the desertion of Maya cities.
101:24
In the United States,
101:25
at the University of Cincinnati,
101:28
David Lentz will analyze samples he took from ancient Maya reservoirs.
101:34
Today, he's looking for evidence of environmental
101:36
DNA in samples from Tikal.
101:41
>> This came from the temple reservoir.
101:44
In addition to looking for DNA,
101:47
we've looked for different kinds
101:49
of contaminants from the reservoirs.
101:56
Hi, here's the samples that we want to use for DNA extraction.
102:01
>> Let's Let's see what plants were out. >> All right.
102:05
>> The team pulverized soil samples
102:07
to release any DNA attached to the
102:11
They separate the DNA from any remaining
102:13
soil particles by spinning the samples
102:19
They'll use chemicals to remove organic compounds
102:22
until they're only left with DNA.
102:25
>> Well, this is the exciting moment.
102:27
We get to see if all of that work has resulted
102:30
in DNA in our samples
102:33
and uh I have high hopes. Wow.
102:42
Now we have beautiful
102:43
DNA from Tikal in front of us.
102:48
>> Environmental DNA has revolutionized
102:52
New analysis techniques can identify
102:55
plants and species from the genetic material
102:57
they leave in the environment.
103:00
>> The remarkable thing is that in
103:02
these two microliters of DNA that we measured
103:05
there can be DNA from hundreds and hundreds of plant species.
103:09
>> When David studies sequences
103:11
of DNA from the reservoirs
103:12
of Tikal, the results are groundbreaking.
103:17
>> This shows that there were serious
103:20
infestations of cyanobacteria in
103:24
at least two of the reservoirs
103:26
and these are a group of blue-green
103:29
algae that produce uh incredibly
103:32
toxic microcystins and extremely
103:35
dangerous because one drop
103:38
on your tongue would kill you.
103:41
>> The reservoir at Tikal Center had no effective filter system.
103:44
And uncontrolled bacteria growth might have been caused by food waste poisoning the water.
103:51
>> This was a big problem,
103:52
especially the palace reservoir.
103:53
Having the water turn green
103:56
right in front of the palace
103:58
of the ruler, then the people must have seen this as a failing
104:02
of their >> And that's not all.
104:07
David's team also detect mercury
104:09
in the water samples
104:11
at a level 17
104:12
times higher than is safe for humans.
104:16
At Tikal, the source of mercury
104:18
has been linked to paint production,
104:21
especially a red pigment
104:23
that the Maya used on a wide scale.
104:25
>> And one thing the Maya would use
104:28
as a pigment was cinnabar,
104:30
which is mercury And so there would be a constant
104:37
in mercury in the sediments
104:39
and in the waters of the reservoir.
104:42
And so the rulers
104:43
were consuming mercury every day
104:46
in their food, and
104:48
this would have created
104:49
a a real problem for them.
104:54
One of the effects
104:55
of the mercury, there
104:58
a condition they call metabolic syndrome.
105:01
And one of the symptoms
105:03
of that is people become enormously obese.
105:07
>> This ancient carving shows one of the last rulers of Tikal,
105:11
a man known as Dark Sun,
105:13
who is clearly shown as obese.
105:16
>> And also it affects their neurology
105:18
in their brain and elsewhere.
105:21
It would have perhaps
105:22
affected their mental acuity
105:24
and their ability to make good decisions.
105:27
>> These astonishing new discoveries
105:30
suggest that contaminated water put the authority
105:32
of Tikal's rulers under
105:36
possibly contributing to the city's
105:39
And now, evidence is showing that pressure on the rulers
105:42
was magnified by In Guatemala,
105:50
near the center of Tikal,
105:52
Edwin is investigating the giant
105:56
>> In Tikal, we have at least five big temples.
106:00
This is one of them.
106:01
This is the first one,
106:02
and date around 600 AD.
106:05
It's almost 50 m tall.
106:09
>> The rulers of Tikal
106:10
ordered pyramids built as symbols of power,
106:13
but also of war.
106:16
>> They tried to show how powerful you are.
106:18
They were used to commemorate
106:20
the victories of Tikal against another cities,
106:23
and also make the people
106:25
of this city feel proud about it, because the war was not being only
106:28
by kings, also was
106:30
win by all the army and all the people from this city.
106:35
>> Could war have led to the collapse
106:37
of this great city?
106:39
And who was Tikal fighting against?
106:44
Clues lie 90 km
106:45
north of Tikal, in the ancient
106:48
Maya city of Calakmul,
106:50
across the border into Mexico.
106:56
It was ruled by the Kaanul dynasty,
106:58
known also as the Snake Kingdom.
107:01
This city covers some 70 sq km.
107:05
David Lentz is investigating
107:07
the tallest pyramid at Calakmul.
107:13
Try to imagine what this would have been
107:16
when the Maya were here.
107:18
That all of the forest
107:19
here, much of it would have been cleared.
107:21
There were agricultural fields,
107:23
there were houses that extend
107:26
close to the horizon.
107:28
My personal estimates would be somewhere
107:30
between 50,000 and 100,000
107:33
people lived And over 6,000 structures.
107:37
So, this was a a great metropolis.
107:42
>> Calakmul was settled as far back as 800
107:47
But most of the larger buildings were constructed
107:49
later during the Maya Classic era.
107:54
This was a city to rival Tikal
107:56
in power and beauty.
107:59
>> There's an enormous amount of energy,
108:01
and also a lot of planning that went into this.
108:04
The >> internal rooms had to be supported
108:07
by large beams from trees
108:10
that were specially picked out of the rainforest.
108:13
This was an enormous
108:16
>> The Kaanul dynasty, who ruled Calakmul,
108:19
had ambitions to seize power from their southern neighbors in Tikal.
108:23
And soon large-scale clashes
108:25
broke out between the two regional
108:28
Now archaeologists are beginning to understand
108:31
Maya warfare in more detail.
108:34
In Mexico City, at the National Museum of Anthropology,
108:39
historian Gabriella Rivera Acosta
108:42
is investigating remarkable images
108:44
from the ancient Maya site of Bonampak.
108:48
>> These pictures can help us to understand warfare.
108:51
For example, who was involved in warfare?
108:54
The nobility have the most complex weaponry system.
108:57
The common people used something more
109:00
simple, like just a long spear and circular shield.
109:04
So, we must understand in the context
109:07
of how the warfare
109:09
is so important for the Maya
109:11
in the classic times.
109:14
>> The Maya depicted how prisoners
109:16
were captured and body parts kept as human
109:21
>> They can take the head of this his enemy
109:24
and take to the own city.
109:27
>> These images give archaeologists
109:29
an idea of how Maya conflict played out.
109:33
>> Sometimes we can find tiny battles, but in some other we can found
109:37
huge wars to involve
109:40
a lot of allies.
109:43
>> If a city like Calakmul
109:45
was to defeat the powerful Tikal
109:47
in battles like this,
109:49
they would need to find allies to support them.
109:52
And clues to where they found support
109:54
might be hiding in a mysterious
109:56
lost In the 1960s,
110:04
stone carvings began showing up in museums
110:06
across the Artifacts taken by looters
110:10
from an unknown Maya city
110:11
that was nicknamed Site Q.
110:16
Eventually, a location was identified.
110:22
Today, archaeologists are heading to the lost Maya city.
110:26
Site Q is now known as La Corona.
110:30
It's a remote location
110:31
and difficult to Tomas Barrientos
110:44
and Marcelo Canuto lead the team here.
110:49
Marcelo found ultimate proof
110:51
that this city is indeed Site Q.
110:53
>> What I found in 2005
110:56
was a panel that was identical
110:57
in style to the panels that had been looted.
111:01
And it not only was identical in style, but it talked about the same
111:04
historical figures that were mentioned
111:07
in these other panels.
111:08
So, we had panels
111:09
from all and all over all over the world that mentioned King so-and-so, right?
111:13
And maybe a little bit of text that tells us he was born here
111:16
or something along those lines.
111:18
The the panels that I found here
111:21
talked about that exact same king.
111:22
And so, it became clear that
111:25
La Corona and Sak Chu were one in the
111:28
>> The looted stone panels
111:30
gave tantalizing clues about the city's link
111:33
with the much larger city
111:35
of Calakmul and its K'an dynasty rulers.
111:40
>> Sak Chu talked about this site's
111:43
relationship with the K'an kingdom located at Calakmul.
111:48
So, everybody knew that Sak Chu
111:50
was related in a very close
111:53
and an intimate way
111:55
with the dynasty at Calakmul.
111:58
So, finding the actual place that was associated
112:01
with Sak Chu allowed us to say, "Okay, now we can ask why here?
112:05
Why would K'an be interested in this spot?"
112:10
>> The team needed to find more evidence
112:12
of the link between Calakmul and La Corona.
112:19
>> Well, here we are in the main square of La Corona.
112:24
What's fascinating is the fact that
112:26
what you see is this kind of flat area with a lot of trees,
112:29
but you have to imagine it completely free of trees.
112:34
>> The ceremonial center of La Corona
112:37
was formed from dozens of buildings
112:39
arranged around a wide central plaza,
112:42
where ceremonies and gatherings
112:44
would have taken place.
112:46
On the east side
112:47
stood two 15-m tall temples
112:51
facing a palace, where the royal families lived.
112:54
It was built in a fertile
112:56
area with an abundance of water.
113:00
>> So, these would have been brilliant,
113:01
bright, colorful places teeming with people
113:05
coming to maybe seek an audience
113:07
with the king or come to buy and sell
113:11
some objects or some tools.
113:13
It was a very lively place with lots of people.
113:16
However, La Corona did not have a population
113:19
as big as some cities that had
113:21
20, 30, or 80,000 inhabitants like Tikal.
113:25
Here there was more like 5 to 8,000 inhabitants.
113:28
It was a small city.
113:31
>> It was in this ceremonial
113:32
center that the team would soon find evidence
113:35
of the link between La Corona
113:38
and the of Calakmul.
113:40
>> This is where the structure
113:43
appeared 5 years ago.
113:46
>> When we got here years ago, we saw this mound.
113:53
And then there was a tree also growing here
113:55
that with its roots
113:57
looked like it was part of the mass of earthen so forth.
114:00
Then we got lidar.
114:04
>> When the team examined lidar scans of the area,
114:08
the high-resolution map of the ground's contours
114:10
showed something >> When we looked at the lidar,
114:14
every little white dot
114:16
represents a separate building.
114:18
At La Corona, we knew that these were all separate buildings.
114:21
We could see them.
114:22
But what we didn't realize was that this was a building.
114:26
This white dot here.
114:28
We realized, ah, that looks man-made. Let's investigate it.
114:34
>> Lidar revealed that the mound concealed a hidden structure.
114:39
>> We're right in front of a building,
114:41
so it has this sort of a smooth what looks like a slope, but
114:44
what you have to imagine
114:45
here is essentially where where that root is that's coming out of the ground.
114:48
That would have been the level of the ceiling, so the roof.
114:53
>> The team unearths a small temple.
114:56
There were no doors,
114:57
but it had columns on either side of the entrance.
115:01
And inside, on the central axis facing upwards,
115:04
an intricately carved >> Now, that what did we just find?
115:14
>> The altar, displayed in its own temple at La Corona,
115:18
must have been conveying
115:19
important information to the Maya who lived here.
115:23
>> It was a beautiful
115:24
altar and perfectly preserved
115:26
that talked about a period of time
115:28
that we knew was really important
115:30
and that really gave us something quite fascinating.
115:33
>> It took the team
115:34
almost 2 years to safely retrieve
115:37
the huge limestone block
115:39
so that they could study it further.
115:41
It's almost a meter and a half long
115:43
and 1.2 meters wide
115:45
and it weighs nearly a ton.
115:52
Today, it's safely stored in the museum of Guatemala City.
115:57
>> Every time I see it,
115:59
it's like feeling the same emotion as when we first saw it in La Corona.
116:08
>> The hieroglyphs on this altar
116:10
give Tomás important information
116:12
about La Corona's link with the Kaanul dynasty
116:14
of a family known as the snake kings.
116:21
>> Here we see the portrait
116:23
of King Chak Tok Ich'aak of La Corona.
116:27
The king holds a scepter
116:29
with a two-headed snake.
116:31
But the most important
116:32
thing is the relationship
116:34
between La Corona and the snake dynasty.
116:37
Here we see on the altar the king of La Corona invoking
116:40
two of the three gods
116:42
who are the patrons
116:44
of La Corona, but we think that these gods were imposed by the Kaanuls.
116:49
>> The altar reveals that the Kaanul dynasty
116:52
of Calakmul imposed their power and influence
116:55
over La Corona, gaining an important
116:58
ally in their quest to overcome
117:00
their rivals at Tikal.
117:04
>> This is something that we've seen in other cities.
117:08
But here in La Corona,
117:09
I think this is the important point of what was an alliance
117:12
of over two centuries.
117:14
It's rare to see two Maya cities establishing
117:16
an alliance that lasted for that long.
117:20
>> Now we can ask, why here?
117:22
Why would Kaanul be interested
117:24
in this spot on the
117:27
And one of the things that really became clear to us is that
117:30
when you look at the
117:32
of the site of La Corona
117:34
relative to Calakmul and
117:37
its enemy Tikal, this place is strategic.
117:41
>> As time went by,
117:43
the Kaanul dynasty spread its power and advanced
117:46
towards By the 6th century,
117:49
confrontation was These two superpowers
117:53
dragged allied cities into their power struggle.
117:58
The Kaanuls of Calakmul
118:00
eventually won the upper hand.
118:02
As explained by carvings
118:04
at the Tikal-controlled city of Dos Pilas.
118:08
>> This is the record
118:09
of one particular ruler.
118:11
His name was Balak Chan K'awiil.
118:13
His brother or half-brother
118:16
was the king at Tikal
118:17
and they were in conflict with one another.
118:20
And what this inscription
118:21
tells us >> is this,
118:23
the lord flips him, turns him over to become an ally
118:26
of the Kaanuls against
118:28
his own family, essentially, at Tikal.
118:36
>> There's been a common
118:37
use of the metaphor of the Game of Thrones example.
118:40
Sometimes alliances collapse and people who were married
118:45
in a previous generation
118:46
that were friends were now enemies.
118:48
I like to think of maybe a game, but it was a a game.
118:54
>> Balak and Kawil was
118:57
really instrumental in helping
119:00
expand the Kanuls all throughout that area of the Maya lowlands
119:05
in this rivalry against
119:09
>> In 679 AD, the Kanuls of Calakmul finally conquered Tikal.
119:16
But their victory didn't last long.
119:19
>> Tikal turned the tables
119:20
on the snake and defeated their ruler.
119:24
And then after that,
119:26
Calakmul went into decline
119:27
and Tikal became the preeminent
119:30
city of the lowland Maya area.
119:34
>> Clashes would continue well into the
119:38
And constant conflict took its toll.
119:41
>> There's no real winner
119:43
in this war, as it turns out.
119:46
Uh that played itself out over the classic period for centuries.
119:50
>> And the most records
119:53
of war that we have
119:55
in the inscriptions comes right before the collapse.
119:58
I think that is an indication
120:00
of what was happening
120:01
and of how everything fell
120:03
Clearly warfare was important
120:05
>> and and maybe even the driving factor in
120:08
>> With war weakening Tikal,
120:10
Calakmul, and their allied cities,
120:13
the rulers' control hung in the balance.
120:21
At Tikal, leaders needed to demonstrate
120:25
their power to maintain
120:26
control of their They demanded
120:29
ever larger pyramids be
120:32
towering symbols of authority.
120:36
Now, investigations are exposing
120:38
how they were able to keep building ever bigger structures.
120:43
Not far from the city's ceremonial
120:46
Edwin Roman Ramírez's team
120:48
are tunneling into the north face
120:51
of a 13-m tall
120:55
>> We're seeing how Mayans
120:57
built these big structures.
120:59
We go and we make these tunnels
121:02
to go and be able to understand
121:04
the beginning of this building.
121:06
>> Clues in the construction
121:08
show that the Maya were building
121:10
on top of older structures,
121:12
expanding them over time.
121:14
>> They have one structure
121:17
and they start to build one on the top and another on the top.
121:20
Now, here we are seeing this is the construction
121:22
field that they used to cover
121:24
this building right here.
121:27
And that's how we know
121:28
the history of this building.
121:31
>> What started out as small pyramids
121:34
were expanded over time by successive
121:36
rulers, each eager to show off their power and commemorate events.
121:41
Sometimes kings were even buried inside the stacked pyramids.
121:48
As Edwin's team tunnel even further into the monument,
121:52
>> they discover astonishing proof
121:54
of this stacked building concept.
121:57
>> A 1,600 years ago,
121:59
a Maya person will be here
122:01
is standing on front of a building.
122:03
You have to remove all of this.
122:08
This is a construction
122:09
that was built later
122:11
and that's how we can see this at different stages.
122:14
This specific building has at least seven
122:17
different layers of of constructions
122:21
that start around the
122:23
uh 250 and the last version
122:27
is around >> Even with this layering
122:34
the huge pyramids and temples in Tikal
122:36
took a great deal of effort and resources to build.
122:40
Tensions mounted in the face of constant
122:42
conflict and poisoned water supplies.
122:48
>> So, they built bigger temples
122:50
and more rituals, and that, of course, solved nothing.
122:54
In fact, it made it worse.
122:55
This waste of energy,
123:00
a symbol of growing
123:01
inequality, all these problems
123:04
were building up, and the people were hungry and so on.
123:07
It did It just made
123:10
the people more irritated.
123:13
>> Escalating problems posed a challenge
123:15
to the power of rulers who were supposed to be divine.
123:20
>> The rulers in the classic
123:22
period were the link
123:23
between the deities and and the mortals,
123:26
and if they are failing on that, what's happening?
123:28
I mean, I'm going to be unsatisfied.
123:30
I'm going to be angry.
123:31
So, then I'm going to be like,
123:34
I don't trust them.
123:35
I don't respect them anymore.
123:38
I don't see why I should be keeping them
123:41
and giving them all I I'm supposed to do if they are not fulfilling their their job.
123:44
And that really creates
123:46
a lot of instabilities.
123:48
>> Now, new research suggests
123:51
that the divine nature of the rulers
123:53
might have been put to the ultimate test.
123:57
In the forests near Calakmul,
124:00
David Lentz is exploring
124:01
the areas where the Maya once lived.
124:04
>> You can see here that this is a large
124:07
house group with a platform
124:08
made of And there was probably
124:13
some kind of wooden structure
124:15
on top of >> He's looking for evidence
124:19
of how the Maya
124:20
sought to control their natural >> Uh está bien.
124:25
No hay frutas y flores en este árbol.
124:31
The purpose of doing these modern vegetation
124:34
studies is to give us a benchmark,
124:37
so we can compare
124:38
the modern forest and evaluate
124:40
what the ancient forest was like.
124:43
>> Studies like this allow archaeologists
124:45
to understand how the Maya managed
124:47
the forests around their cities.
124:50
Utilizing trees like the Manilkara zapota.
124:54
>> Oh, this is an interesting tree.
124:57
This was a a very important tree to the ancient Maya.
125:00
It was used for the lintels
125:02
for the big temples
125:04
and uh they used this kind of wood because
125:07
it's very durable and very tough
125:09
>> and it can withstand
125:10
the weight of many stones
125:12
up on top of it.
125:14
>> The demand on the forests
125:15
was high because wood was used in many ways.
125:20
At Tikal, firewood was vital
125:23
for the production of a special building material.
125:27
Today, the buildings of Tikal
125:29
appear to be formed of exposed
125:31
stone, but they once looked very different.
125:35
Underground, the Maya habit of building over the top of existing
125:39
buildings lets Edwin see what the exterior originally looked like.
125:45
>> Over here, you can see how they build it.
125:48
You have limestone blocks
125:50
and they cover all of this with the estuco.
125:54
Estuco is to decorate the building and also
125:58
is helping to insulate
126:00
the core of the building from
126:02
water, from the sun.
126:03
They were not thinking those buildings
126:05
for short period of time.
126:06
They were thinking that they going to last.
126:11
>> When Tikal was at its height,
126:13
its buildings looked very different to
126:17
The Maya covered almost every surface
126:19
of their monuments and floors
126:21
in stucco, which they painted in bright
126:26
Maya builders made stucco
126:27
by burning and then crushing limestone into a powder.
126:31
>> They knew how to produce it in a massive
126:34
way to be able to completely
126:36
cover the entire city.
126:39
And we are talking about
126:40
kilometers of kilo square kilometers
126:43
of >> It's estimated that for every square meter,
126:48
the Maya needed to burn 20 trees
126:51
to produce the stucco needed.
126:53
The consequences would be immense.
127:01
David Lentz thinks that deforestation
127:04
might have contributed to the abandonment of Maya cities.
127:08
>> There's evidence coming out of Brazil
127:10
that shows that when a certain
127:12
percentage of the forest is cleared
127:16
uh and that's like
127:17
uh 30% of the forest,
127:19
that changes the pattern of rainfall.
127:22
When you have uh a rainforest,
127:24
the roots of the trees
127:26
suck that water up and bring it back
127:28
up to the surface
127:30
through and this adds
127:33
to the water cycle.
127:35
We have studied Tikal
127:36
for uh a decade now,
127:38
and we know from the pollen evidence
127:41
that they had cleared
127:43
about 60% to 70% of the forest.
127:47
They kept the other
127:48
40% and protected it and conserved
127:51
it, but still they had cleared
127:53
about 2/3 of the land.
127:55
So, it was too much.
127:56
>> Experts have found that a series
127:58
of multi-decade droughts in the 9th century caused famine.
128:03
Drought could have been the final nail in the coffin for the rulers who
128:06
sought to convince their people of their divine status.
128:11
The abandonment of Tikal and other large cities
128:13
at the end of the Classic Era,
128:15
around 900 AD, would have a domino effect
128:18
on smaller cities like La Corona.
128:21
>> We see how the smaller
128:23
cities couldn't maintain their population on their own.
128:27
Because they relied on interdependence with other cities.
128:33
>> The system was kind of fragmented and breaking up.
128:36
Politically, economically, and so people started to
128:40
basically leave these centers.
128:41
>> And by the mid-9th
128:42
century or so, this place was a shell of itself.
128:46
And certainly by the 900s, it was abandoned.
128:49
Then of course, the forest grew back and eventually just took over the site.
128:52
And that's what we have today.
128:56
>> Then the classical cities remained abandoned for many centuries.
129:01
And although they evoked a certain
129:04
they started to get lost in people's
129:08
So much so that the rediscovery
129:10
of these cities happened almost a thousand
129:13
years >> Today, at cities like Tikal,
129:19
hundreds of abandoned buildings
129:21
are waiting to be reclaimed
129:22
from the forest and restored
129:24
to their former Each one a testament
129:27
to the architectural ingenuity of the Maya.
129:31
And a reminder that once these ceremonial
129:33
centers were deserted, many
129:35
weren't returned to by the Maya.
129:39
But the abandonment of these cities
129:41
might not have been as sudden as archaeologists once thought.
129:45
Outside the ceremonial center of Tikal,
129:48
Edwin's team are uncovering
129:50
settlements that were still used
129:52
after monumental building ceased.
129:54
>> In the central area where the monumental
129:56
architecture was placed, most of the royal family had to move.
130:01
But when you talk about the process of abandonment
130:04
of a city, it's not something that happened fast.
130:07
In this case, we know it's 200 years.
130:10
People start to migrate looking for better places to live.
130:13
And what we know
130:14
is that people didn't disappear.
130:16
It's not the end of Maya culture.
130:18
It's a >> The centers
130:22
of power were abandoned.
130:24
The main buildings were abandoned.
130:27
The structures that served for public
130:30
services or for public
130:31
performances, but that doesn't mean that people fled away like like it was thought before.
130:37
Big cities eventually got abandoned
130:41
because they their structure
130:42
or their layout was not what was needed.
130:46
>> Some Maya moved south
130:48
to the highlands where population centers endured.
130:52
While others chose to migrate north
130:54
towards emerging powers like Chichen
130:58
Today, new discoveries and excavations
131:01
are giving archaeologists a much clearer understanding
131:04
of the so-called collapse
131:06
of the Maya Classic Era.
131:08
>> Most of us wouldn't use that word anymore because collapse means a rupture.
131:12
It's it's a complete
131:13
fracture like saying before
131:16
and after like if there was not a
131:19
The thing is that it took a long time to understand what happened.
131:23
>> Now, archaeologists are uncovering
131:25
the combination of events
131:27
that led divine rulers of grand cities
131:29
like Tikal and Calakmul
131:31
to gradually lose their power and influence.
131:34
How wars weakened big cities and their allies.
131:38
The impact of poisoned water supplies
131:40
and drought on large populations.
131:43
And on the authority of their leaders.
131:46
That resources squandered on giant pyramids
131:48
and lavishly colored cities
131:51
might have led to environmental
131:54
But also how the desertion
131:57
of ceremonial centers and a fall in the power of divine
132:01
rulers didn't mean the loss of the Maya civilization itself. The ancient Maya.
132:14
A seemingly lost civilization
132:17
that abandoned their cities
132:18
in the forests of Mexico and Central America.
132:22
But what is the truth
132:24
behind this remarkable society?
132:26
They were able to survive,
132:28
to adapt, and even to evolve
132:30
in their own way.
132:32
Now, teams of investigators
132:34
are setting out to uncover
132:35
the dark secrets of the
132:38
>> A massive concentration of
132:40
dead body down there.
132:43
>> Using new technology to expose
132:45
the fate of the last capital cities.
132:47
>> Here's the staircase leading up to the
132:50
>> Venture in deep into mystical underground caverns. >> This is amazing.
132:55
There's pottery >> And finding new evidence of
133:01
>> Are these war victims
133:02
or these sacrificial victims?
133:05
>> They're asking what happened when foreign invaders
133:07
landed on Maya >> We have evidence
133:11
of violence, burned buildings
133:13
that were never rebuilt.
133:15
>> How the Maya coped with climate
133:19
>> These crystals are like time capsules.
133:22
>> And how, despite a perfect
133:24
storm of they endured.
133:40
When early archaeologists discovered lost cities
133:43
deep in the forests
133:44
of Mexico and Central America,
133:47
the legend of the ancient Maya was born.
133:51
The deserted pyramids inspired
133:52
ideas of a vanished
133:53
civilization that had long since disappeared.
133:58
Archaeologists split Maya history into eras.
134:01
The classic era lasted some 650
134:04
years and ended in the so-called
134:07
collapse around 900 AD.
134:10
This was some 600
134:11
years before the arrival of Spanish conquistadors on Maya shores.
134:16
But contrary to popular belief,
134:19
the collapse wasn't the end of the Maya.
134:21
>> They had all these fractures in their culture.
134:23
Sometimes they left the cities behind,
134:26
but they were always innovative
134:27
and creating new ways of surviving. >> They didn't disappear.
134:32
The Maya suffered so much,
134:33
but they uh kept going.
134:36
And today, the Mayan society still exists.
134:41
>> So how did Maya resilience
134:42
allow them to prevail
134:44
against the classic era collapse
134:46
and the devastation caused by Spanish conquerors?
134:50
During the classic period,
134:52
the Maya region spread from southern Mexico
134:54
through Guatemala, Belize, and beyond.
134:58
The collapse saw the abandonment
134:59
of cities concentrated around the southern
135:07
in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula,
135:09
archaeologists are investigating the ancient Maya city
135:13
of Chichen Itza to look for clues about what happened next.
135:17
The Maya were still using this site and building here after the classic era
135:23
It's home to an iconic pyramid,
135:26
the Temple of Kukulcan,
135:30
and to the northwest,
135:32
the largest Maya ball court ever found.
135:37
Dominic Rizzolo and Sam Meacham
135:39
are part of a team
135:41
investigating the site using new technology.
135:44
They're using drones and scanning equipment
135:46
to map out the city.
135:48
Today, Sam is conducting the aerial surveys.
135:51
>> It just goes out and
135:53
autonomously flies this route
135:57
over the entire site of Chichen Itza,
135:59
and within a matter of hours, we have a high-resolution map.
136:08
It's all autonomous and so it's just going to take up and you'll see
136:12
once it gets to
136:14
25 m it's going to start the mission.
136:20
>> Drones offer archaeologists a unique
136:22
perspective over the site.
136:24
>> And now it's going to fly over to the start point
136:27
and now it's going to start capturing photos here.
136:30
>> The drone takes thousands of photos
136:32
that can be used to create a 3D model.
136:35
But the team is also doing high-resolution
136:37
scanning of the site's contours.
136:41
>> So this sends out
136:42
lasers from this lidar
136:45
And it has an onboard
136:48
system that registers all of those
136:51
points collected by the laser
136:54
to help us create a 3D map
136:56
of the site as we walk.
136:59
>> The lidar system creates a 3D point cloud
137:02
that accurately maps every physical object in the area.
137:07
>> And it'd be nice to capture
137:08
the the geometry of the ball court.
137:10
And again we can integrate all of these data into
137:13
our aerial survey of the site.
137:14
But we can see the plaza floor.
137:16
It's capturing the trees as well.
137:19
And then here is
137:20
here's the staircase leading up to the top
137:23
of site of the the ball court.
137:27
>> Technology like drones and lidar are revolutionizing archaeology.
137:31
>> We're collaborating with the National Institute of Anthropology
137:34
and History to produce essentially
137:36
a comprehensive and digital atlas of Chichen Itza.
137:40
So we want to capture
137:41
all of Chichen Itza, every building,
137:43
every carved stone monument,
137:45
every structure and essentially
137:47
for the entire site.
137:49
>> The models that the team are producing
137:51
show the full extent of the city
137:53
and expose the truth about what happened after the Maya collapse.
137:57
>> There's this this popular conception
137:59
of the disappearance of the Maya after the collapse of classic period Maya civilization
138:03
in the southern lowlands.
138:05
But what you see
138:06
here is a fluorescence
138:07
of Maya culture, a rise
138:09
of the architecture that we see here.
138:12
This was all after
138:13
the so-called collapse of classic period Maya.
138:17
>> The scanning work helps expose
138:19
how the classic collapse
138:20
of the Maya did not trigger a dark age.
138:24
In fact, the Maya continued
138:26
advancing their engineering skills.
138:32
Octavio Juarez has carried out archaeological
138:35
work here for the last 8
138:38
The Kukulcan pyramid is a focus of
138:42
>> This building was rebuilt approximately
138:45
around the year 900 AD.
138:48
The building is 31 m high,
138:51
55 m at the base.
138:54
>> The pyramid is a masterpiece
138:56
of ancient >> The pyramid is made up of nine staggered
139:02
It has four stairways,
139:03
each aligned towards a cardinal point.
139:06
Each of these stairways has 91 steps.
139:10
If we add them up, that's 364.
139:13
At the top, we have another step.
139:15
Added together, that gives us 365
139:17
steps, which refers to the calendar.
139:21
>> This building is proof
139:23
of the Maya people's sophisticated
139:25
understanding of the calendar and astronomy.
139:30
Twice a year, during the spring and autumn
139:34
the sun traces out the shape of a moving snake in shadow,
139:38
linking with the carved head of a feathered serpent,
139:42
the Maya god Kukulcan.
139:45
>> It marks a large part of the agricultural cycle for us.
139:48
At the spring equinox,
139:50
when this phenomenon occurs,
139:51
traditionally, people began to work the land
139:54
to carry out agricultural work.
139:57
>> And later, on the ultimate cronuts,
139:59
the first crops began to be harvested.
140:05
>> While the classic era collapse
140:07
around 900 AD didn't see the Maya abandon
140:10
Chichen Itza, the continued
140:13
expansion of the city had a limit.
140:17
Eventually, catastrophe would strike.
140:24
Octavio is looking for clues about what
140:28
>> By 1300 AD, the city was practically
140:33
The entire city was covered by
140:36
And it remained covered under vegetation
140:38
until 1840, when the first explorers
140:43
>> Restoration teams at the site
140:45
are conserving and cleaning the city's ruins,
140:48
finding new clues as they work.
140:51
>> It allows us to find some elements that are covered under microorganisms,
140:56
such as the pigments that form part of the building's decoration.
141:01
Another important aspect is that it allows us to see in more detail some
141:05
decorative elements, such as this mask of the god of rain.
141:12
>> The Maya god of rain is called Chac.
141:15
And carvings depicting this god are common across Chichen Itza.
141:20
>> On this side, we have his eyes.
141:22
And on this side, it's characterized
141:24
by having his open mouth,
141:26
in which part of his teeth can be seen.
141:30
>> There's a good reason
141:31
the Maya made so many Chac carvings at Chichen Itza.
141:35
>> In the Yucatan Peninsula,
141:37
we don't have surface water,
141:38
such as lakes or rivers.
141:42
>> 100% of agriculture was based on the rainy season.
141:46
So, there was a very important
141:48
cult focused on this deity
141:50
in relation to >> Could drought
141:53
have caused the Maya to abandon this city?
142:00
100 km away, Martin Medina
142:06
is preparing to enter
142:07
the Tsabnah cave system.
142:09
>> It's been 15 years since I was here, and it's I'm thrilled. It's exciting.
142:16
>> There are clues hidden in this cave that let Martin peer deep into the
142:19
past and learn about the climate during the time of the ancient Maya.
142:26
>> This is the cave Tsabnah.
142:30
There's hundreds of caves like this one in the region.
142:34
>> Martin is hunting for formations
142:36
known as stalagmites, formed over centuries
142:39
from dripping water that contains calcium carbonate.
142:43
>> Well, this big formation
142:45
is a and it's being fed by the stalactite,
142:49
which is a wall.
142:50
If I were to cut this stalagmite,
142:53
if I were to do a cross-section,
142:54
you would see a very
142:56
distinctive growth pattern that looks like a tree ring.
142:59
So, you would see layers
143:01
and layers and layers of calcite
143:02
accumulation over probably 2,000, 3,000 years.
143:07
For me, it's like a
143:09
and it has information
143:10
that is very, very important.
143:14
>> Information that exposes a climatic
143:17
change that would have a cataclysmic
143:19
consequence for the Maya civilization.
143:26
This stalagmite traps vital information
143:29
about past climate and rainfall in
143:33
Martin can see how the stalagmite
143:35
is formed using a high-resolution
143:39
>> Well, I can see the crystals,
143:41
and these are the crystals that have the information
143:43
that I'm interested in in finding and deciphering.
143:47
I see hundreds and hundreds of crystals.
143:50
They have a combination
143:53
of the elements that came from
143:56
the cave and rainfall.
143:58
These crystals are like time capsules
144:01
that can tell us whether it was
144:03
wetter or drier in the
144:06
>> Rain leaves distinctive chemical signatures
144:09
within the crystals in the form of different isotopes
144:11
of oxygen depending on whether it's heavy or light rain.
144:16
It allows Martin to build up a chart of ancient rainfall patterns.
144:21
>> What I have here is a record of rainfall
144:23
and what we're seeing
144:25
here are a periods
144:26
of wetness in the region and dryness.
144:30
A series of wet, dry, wet, dry.
144:33
The periods where we see severe drought,
144:36
the droughts were actually
144:38
quite significant compared to today.
144:41
The precipitation dropped by half of how much it rains today during
144:45
several of these droughts.
144:48
>> Evidence collected by Martin and other teams
144:50
suggests that drought played a key role in the desertion
144:53
of Maya cities including Chichen Itza.
144:57
>> So, what is remarkable
144:58
about stalagmites is that we can go from
145:01
information in these crystals to get a very high resolution record.
145:06
>> New research techniques like this
145:08
are transforming our understanding
145:10
of the past and helping to explain
145:13
why the grand pyramids and monuments of Chichen Itza were abandoned.
145:19
>> Between 1,000 and 1,100
145:22
AD and there was one of the greatest
145:24
droughts in Maya history
145:26
that lasted 80 years
145:28
and we think that the
145:31
catastrophic die-off from famine
145:34
was one of the greatest in world history.
145:36
>> Chichen Itza start losing
145:39
its its power or its or its grip
145:41
as been the main site in in that area around 1,100.
145:47
>> Yeah, and yet people survived
145:49
and the countryside and
145:51
political leaders, you know,
145:53
also survived to the point that within decades
145:56
you have a new capital.
146:00
>> The Maya headed west
146:02
and built a new capital city
146:04
at a site called Mayapan.
146:07
The city would become the last great capital
146:10
in this part of the Maya region.
146:12
Archaeologist Carlos Peraza Lope
146:15
is in charge of the city's excavation.
146:17
>> Mayapan is >> Mayapan is a very large city.
146:23
According to our research,
146:24
it's estimated that between 15,000
146:26
and 17,000 people lived here.
146:31
We have recorded more than 4,000 archaeological structures.
146:36
What we see today
146:37
is only 5 to 10%
146:39
of this huge city.
146:45
>> Mayapan became a powerful city-state.
146:50
At its heart, a large pyramid
146:52
similar to that of Chichen Itza.
146:55
And nearby, a circular
146:57
building possibly used as an
147:00
It was the most densely populated
147:02
city in the Maya lowlands.
147:06
Just like at Chichen Itza,
147:08
the Maya dedicated their pyramid
147:10
to Kukulcan, the feathered serpent god.
147:13
And the pyramid was carefully orientated, too.
147:17
>> Chichen Itza's exhibits a staircase
147:20
shadow on the equinoxes.
147:22
So, Mayapan is complementary
147:24
in exhibiting it on the solstices.
147:27
>> Maya cosmos is divided up into this north-south-east-west
147:30
with sort of a central
147:32
point and that temple, the temple of Kukulcan,
147:34
becomes the center, the literal
147:36
and metaphorical center of both the city and the Maya cosmos
147:40
for the for the post-classic.
147:42
>> Unlike earlier cities, it's not buried
147:45
by centuries of soil.
147:47
And when you walk
147:48
archaeologically through the city, it's like going to Pompeii without the ash.
147:56
Now archaeologists think they know why the Maya chose this location
148:00
for their new city.
148:03
Still traumatized by droughts,
148:05
the Maya rulers might have chosen to build their city at a site generously
148:08
supplied by water in the form of underground
148:12
water-filled caverns known as cenotes.
148:17
>> We are at the edge of the Chen Mul
148:21
They can be found
148:22
next to the pyramid
148:24
of We have recorded
148:29
46 cenotes inside the
148:32
And outside the walls,
148:35
there are more than 100.
148:39
>> Cenotes were perfect sources of drinking water in a crisis,
148:43
but they were difficult to access,
148:44
so less useful for agriculture.
148:47
But why are so many cenotes
148:49
found in this area?
148:55
At Sac Actun cave,
148:57
Martin Medina is investigating
148:59
how cenotes are >> This is amazing.
149:02
I hadn't I hadn't seen this part before. So many shells.
149:06
There is hundreds of thousands of them.
149:10
It's a coral reef.
149:11
We're seeing an ancient reef
149:13
that is probably older than 5 million
149:17
>> The fossil shells are clues
149:18
to what sort of rock this is.
149:21
>> So this is all limestone.
149:22
>> So when this rock gets in contact with water,
149:25
it starts dissolving, and the cavities that form from rainfall
149:29
over millions of years
149:31
dissolving the rock and forming this amazing >> intricate caves.
149:37
>> The limestone rock and the relative ease with which it dissolves
149:41
when rainwater flows through cracks
149:43
explains how caves and cenotes form.
149:47
But there's another remarkable
149:48
reason why this area of the Yucatán
149:51
has so many cenotes.
149:53
>> We are exactly on the rim
149:56
of the Chicxulub crater,
149:58
which is the the crater was formed from the impact
150:02
of the asteroid associated
150:04
with the extinction of the
150:08
>> The rim of a vast
150:09
66-million-year-old asteroid crater is where a dense concentration
150:14
of cenotes is found.
150:16
Perhaps because rock deep beneath the limestone
150:19
is more fractured, allowing water to flow through.
150:24
This quirk of geology
150:25
would become an important
150:27
part of Maya culture.
150:28
>> You can imagine in a region
150:30
like this where there's severe droughts
150:33
and it doesn't rain much to begin with, how important
150:36
places like this, a cenote, was
150:38
for for the the local inhabitants.
150:42
>> Cenotes provided the Maya with drinking
150:46
But Martin is looking for evidence
150:48
that cenotes also had important
150:51
mystical connections for the Maya.
151:00
Cave systems across the Yucatán Peninsula
151:03
became important places of ritual for the Maya,
151:06
a vital element of their religious >> There's pottery everywhere.
151:11
These pieces of pottery are probably
151:13
classic or pre-classic ancient Maya.
151:16
>> Archaeologists think that the Maya left pottery in caves as part of religious
151:22
>> They would destroy their old pottery
151:24
and that's why you find in many caves, you find
151:27
actually, instead of finding full pieces of water, you find
151:30
just shards of Because it was signifying
151:33
a new era was beginning.
151:35
That's one of the hypotheses.
151:38
>> Cenotes were believed to be portals to the underworld.
151:42
And a special sacred tree called the ceiba
151:44
became a link to the heavens.
151:47
According to Mayan mythology,
151:49
the ceiba symbolizes the three levels of the
151:53
Its roots reach the underworld
151:55
in the Its trunk represents the middle world where humans live.
152:01
And its canopy of branches
152:03
stretches towards the heavens of the upper
152:06
>> It's because of trees like ceiba that have roots that can reach the water
152:10
table, water, that this region
152:12
that has a higher
152:14
propensity to drought is still lush
152:17
and you can still have vegetation.
152:21
>> Cenotes would offer a spiritual
152:22
dimension and vital water
152:25
to the Maya living at their new capital city of
152:31
But now a shocking discovery
152:32
just outside the city
152:34
is posing new questions
152:35
about how cenotes were used.
152:41
Archaeologist Bradley Russell has been studying Mayapan for two decades.
152:47
He's assembled a team to investigate
152:49
the cenote called San Jose.
152:53
The cenote is full of water.
152:55
So diver Alessandro Rizzato
152:57
has been called in and tasked with mapping the
153:02
It's a difficult job.
153:04
>> If you remember last time there were some problems with gas,
153:07
there's a level of gas,
153:09
low oxygen air, just below the entrance to the to the well here.
153:13
The divers that are going down not so
153:16
lose focus from that.
153:18
>> If I feel uh
153:21
uncomfortable for this gas.
153:23
I will call people to hold the the rope.
153:30
is the archaeologist who first discovered the site
153:33
and its dark secret.
153:35
>> The archaeological context is very important.
153:39
So among the deposits
153:40
you're going to see,
153:41
you must not touch them because they correspond
153:44
to customs that we're going to study.
153:49
>> This is the first time that this cenote will be fully mapped.
153:53
>> Well, it's worth it.
154:03
it's an alien landscape.
154:09
The water is 15
154:10
m deep and the cave extends
154:13
for more than 20 m
154:14
in each Alessandro needs to be careful.
154:20
One misplaced kick could stir up sediment
154:23
that cuts visibility to zero.
154:26
On the floor of the cave lies something shocking. Human remains.
154:42
The skeletons of more than a dozen
154:46
>> The big question you ask yourself when you find a deposit
154:48
like that is why are these people here?
154:51
What has happened differently?
154:52
Were they victims of warfare?
154:54
Were they sacrificial victims that were thrown in as offerings?
154:59
>> Alessandro will map the layout
155:02
in The bones are more than 650
155:06
years old and provide valuable
155:08
evidence about the lives of the Maya at the time.
155:11
>> We've been unusually lucky
155:13
in because they're really like time capsules.
155:16
By getting detailed information
155:18
about the contents of these deposits,
155:20
it's almost like decoding
155:22
a forensic crime scene.
155:23
And then you find yourself being able to reconstruct
155:26
the behaviors and how people came to be buried
155:31
>> Alessandro installs lines across the passages
155:34
and caverns, allowing him to plot out natural features
155:38
and the 3D space.
155:42
It takes 10 hours of diving to complete the mapping.
155:56
>> I have all the data, dry cave,
155:58
underwater, everything in the deeper part of the cave.
156:01
Where along my line there are
156:05
three skulls and then
156:07
in the other segment
156:08
four in a >> Okay, so
156:11
>> It's a massive concentration
156:13
of dead bodies down there.
156:15
>> All right, that's really good data for us cuz that's telling us how the
156:17
bodies are decomposing over time, things like that.
156:19
So that's fantastic data.
156:21
>> The team used the sketch
156:23
alongside digital data to produce an accurate model of the cave.
156:28
Now, Bradley needs to analyze the findings
156:31
and figure out why the Maya living at Mayapan
156:34
threw their dead into the cenote.
156:41
At the University of Albany
156:43
in the United States,
156:45
Bradley Russell and colleague Marilyn Masson
156:48
are investigating why the Maya disposed of bodies in the San Jose cenote.
156:54
>> There are cenotes all around Mayapan.
156:57
>> You know, you got two, three cenotes
156:58
and nice clusters here, here, here.
157:00
Well, this guy makes dwellings groups
157:02
directly associated with them.
157:04
That suggests they're probably water bearing
157:06
or you wouldn't be building a cistern close to them.
157:09
>> And this is San Jose here.
157:11
>> Right, San Jose here, Zac Uayum there.
157:14
>> This entire square has almost no houses.
157:16
It It really is as if
157:19
San Jose is a no man's land.
157:20
>> And even And look at Look at that big gap there.
157:23
You really see if there's nothing around.
157:26
Zac Uayum people had stayed away from that cenote
157:28
for >> literally millennia now.
157:32
>> So, why did the Maya avoid
157:34
these two Bradley's team
157:37
has analyzed skeletons found at Zac Uayum cenote
157:41
to find out more about the individuals
157:43
and how they >> This is a
157:46
3D model of one of the skulls.
157:49
There doesn't seem to be any indication
157:51
that violence was the cause of
157:53
Which was one of the questions that we were asking ourselves early on, is
157:56
are these war victims?
157:58
Are these sacrificial victims?
158:00
And we we just don't see anything like that.
158:04
Bradley thinks that the people thrown into these cenotes
158:07
suffered a different but equally tragic fate.
158:10
>> The data we have
158:12
seems to fit best with the theory that these were victims
158:15
of some sort of epidemic disease.
158:17
They needed a space
158:19
where they could dispose of a lot of bodies rapidly.
158:21
They were segregating them from the rest of the population
158:24
by putting them in this these specific
158:27
>> The theory explains why the Maya still avoid these particular
158:31
cenotes to this >> The Maya themselves
158:34
talked about pestilences and epidemics
158:37
in Mayapan's late history and
158:39
immediately >> Scholars think that a series of droughts
158:44
around 1350 AD crippled even the cenote-rich
158:48
Mayapan and coincided with waves of disease.
158:54
And soon, other crises
158:55
would hit the city, too.
158:57
>> The political system in Mayapan,
158:59
it it was a marked difference
159:01
from the classic period where you saw
159:03
a political system that was dedicated
159:05
to veneration of the king's royal lineage.
159:09
>> Mayapan was founded to
159:11
mitigate against regional divisions.
159:14
They brought all the noble houses
159:16
together >> from their separate kingdoms.
159:19
It's a very effective strategy
159:20
when you're trying to unite a region.
159:22
>> Mayapan decided to do something,
159:24
have in their town
159:25
the leaders of all of these different
159:28
other groups, other towns
159:30
come live there and they
159:33
keep an eye on them, control them.
159:36
>> But in reality, one family
159:38
called the Cocom's dominated
159:40
the alliance wielding much more control
159:43
than the next most powerful Xiu family.
159:46
>> Mayapan brought together all of these
159:49
rivals that were vying for power into
159:52
its governing council and they negotiated
159:55
their differences for over 250 years.
160:00
>> Despite this union of great families of the region,
160:03
the leaders of Mayapan
160:04
still feared external attack.
160:08
So they ordered a vast
160:09
wall built around their city.
160:13
They constructed the largest city wall in this part of the Americas.
160:18
9.1 km long with seven
160:21
major Today only a few ruins remain
160:25
but it was a remarkable
160:26
piece of engineering at its time.
160:29
>> In its day, it was at least 3 m
160:34
>> The largest city wall anywhere in Mesoamerica.
160:37
It's got a number of gates with
160:38
often times defensive features, parapets
160:40
and other platforms so that you could shoot down
160:44
and protect those >> It shows
160:46
how much the lords of Mayapan
160:49
were concerned with defense.
160:52
>> The wall kept out intruders
160:55
but also kept in the population ensuring control.
161:01
And now some experts
161:02
think that its construction
161:04
might have exacerbated tension
161:06
between the dominating Cocom family
161:08
and the sidelined Xiu.
161:11
>> To put in the labor that was required
161:13
for the state to produce
161:14
that massive piece of architecture,
161:17
it might have engendered a lot of
161:19
hostility or >> Combined with drought and disease,
161:24
tensions would soon explode.
161:27
>> The Xiu took advantage
161:28
of the fact that things weren't going
161:34
>> Archaeologists have found evidence
161:36
that points to civil war.
161:41
>> We found skeletons that showed signs of violence.
161:47
And had traces of head trauma.
161:50
Probably from face-to-face fighting.
161:55
>> We have a collection
161:56
of different individuals, different ages, different sexes,
162:00
all from a location
162:01
that is associated, we believe, with the Cocom
162:04
>> We have evidence of violence,
162:06
burned buildings that were never rebuilt.
162:09
We have mass graves
162:11
in the city where people were
162:13
chopped up and their remains burned.
162:16
They effigies of their gods, the ceramic
162:18
sculptures of their gods,
162:21
>> The famous kind of big event that was the kind of the end of
162:25
Mayapan was the attack
162:26
from the Xiu family
162:27
on the Cocom family where they wiped out essentially
162:30
all the Cocoms who were present in the
162:33
>> Conflict was the final straw for the troubled city.
162:38
The combination of civil war,
162:41
drought, and disease was a perfect
162:44
storm that led to Mayapan's collapse.
162:48
>> There were untold climatic
162:50
hardships that began in the 1300s
162:54
and continued into the 1400s.
162:56
So it entered almost a century
162:58
of droughts, famines, and pestilences.
163:03
Whenever you get famine, disease follows.
163:07
>> The city became uninhabitable.
163:15
>> the last great Maya capital of the Yucatan Peninsula,
163:18
was abandoned for good around 1450 AD.
163:22
>> More than 4,000 structures inside the city wall and thousands more outside.
163:27
Most were just abandoned.
163:28
Over time, their roofs have fallen in, their walls have collapsed, the vegetation,
163:32
the roots grow in between the stones,
163:34
it begins to displace things,
163:36
destabilized, it falls over.
163:39
>> It was the last time in this area
163:41
>> that a single Maya city
163:43
would hold so much power.
163:47
At the Maya World Museum
163:49
in Merida, Hugo Tun
163:52
specializes in the history of the Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula.
163:58
>> When Mayapan was abandoned
163:59
in the uh 15th
164:01
century, the Mayan groups, they were divided
164:04
and they were split in all the peninsula.
164:06
Every group was ruled by a king.
164:08
They were living uh basically in villages.
164:11
So, they stopped the constructions of big cities.
164:14
The Mayan state didn't do that anymore
164:16
after >> Families like the Xiu,
164:19
Cocom, and others now ruled their own smaller
164:24
but they still returned
164:25
to abandoned sacred sites like Chichen Itza.
164:29
>> The population of all the areas around,
164:31
they continued visiting these places
164:34
to bring offerings to the ancestors,
164:36
to the gods, for example.
164:38
>> But, there would be no chance
164:40
for a new capital to reform
164:43
because a foreign force
164:44
was about to Just six decades
164:49
after Mayapan was Spanish
164:52
conquistadors arrived on Yucatan
164:54
shores, set on conquering
164:56
these new territories and wealth for Spain.
165:01
>> The first Spanish explorers
165:03
going along the coast
165:04
of Yucatan were very impressed
165:06
by the cities they saw.
165:08
They compared one to Cairo.
165:10
They said it had beautiful
165:12
stone buildings, that they had markets.
165:14
So, they even the coastal
165:16
cities, which are not as big
165:18
as their predecessors like Chichen Itza or Mayapan,
165:21
were impressive to the
165:24
>> The Spanish faced a powerful
165:28
but one that the crises
165:29
of the previous centuries had impacted.
165:32
>> If they had come over
165:34
600 years earlier, they would have been facing 10-11 million Maya.
165:38
They were facing something much different.
165:43
the complicated alliances and rivalries
165:45
of the Maya would make conquest
165:49
>> When the Spanish arrived to the Maya area,
165:51
of course there was
165:53
uh different political entities,
165:54
different ethnic groups, different uh societies.
165:58
>> This is one reason
165:59
the Maya were harder
166:01
to conquer, because the Spanish couldn't just go,
166:03
find the emperor, and
166:05
take over the government.
166:07
>> But the Spanish could exploit
166:09
the tension between the
166:14
At the museum, Hugo Tun is investigating
166:18
a carving depicting events
166:20
from 1536, after the Spanish arrival,
166:23
when the Xiu family tried to visit Chichen Itza.
166:26
>> They uh needed to cross
166:28
through the land of Cocom family, their worst enemies.
166:32
The Cocom family, they uh let them
166:35
>> uh sleep on the territory.
166:38
But at the night,
166:39
they were uh attacked
166:41
by the uh warriors.
166:43
And uh on this one, you can see how he was killed.
166:47
An arrow just to his head.
166:51
>> Events like this help explain
166:53
how the Spanish conquerors prevailed.
166:55
>> When the conquerors arrived,
166:57
they took this as a good chance
166:59
to have alliance with
167:02
the Mayan groups that
167:05
were were against the Cocom family.
167:10
>> It took almost two centuries
167:12
for the Spanish crown to conquer the northern Maya lowlands of Yucatan
167:15
and the Maya By 1697,
167:19
just one Maya city held out,
167:21
Tayasal, in modern-day Guatemala.
167:26
Archaeologist Luis Ligorretto has studied this symbol of Maya
167:32
Tayasal is now the island and lakeside city of Flores.
167:37
On the opposite shore,
167:39
Luis can overlook the site.
167:41
This was the last city to yield to Spanish rule.
167:46
In eight several incursions,
167:47
tried several times to conquer them.
167:52
Many European soldiers were taken and sacrificed.
168:00
>> Tayasal was a powerful city.
168:02
Historians estimate that around 25,000
168:05
people lived in the city and nearby.
168:09
It was well fortified
168:10
and protected by the surrounding water.
168:14
The Spanish would need allies to
168:18
At Tayasal, we know there were about
168:20
200 but supported by 3,000 allies.
168:27
They settled on the shores of the lake and took 12 days to build a ship.
168:33
A gunboat with over 100
168:35
people on board, at least five cannons.
168:38
And then they laid siege to the Asediaron
168:40
la >> Eventually, the last Maya city
168:44
would After 12 or 13 days of war, finally
168:48
on the 13th of March, 1697, they surrendered.
168:54
And the Spanish Crown
168:55
takes possession of the last Maya stronghold.
169:00
It was the end
169:01
of more than 2,000
169:03
years of Maya rule.
169:05
But not the end of the Maya.
169:11
Today, in the streets of Flores,
169:14
nothing of the original Maya city of Tayasal remains visible.
169:19
The church we have behind us, Our Lady of the Remedies,
169:23
was built largely with stones that belonged
169:25
to the structures of Tayasal.
169:29
Building on ancient temples
169:31
and replacing them with Catholic churches
169:34
was a common practice.
169:37
The Spanish wanted to convert the Maya.
169:40
So, they found a way
169:41
to target one crucial
169:43
source of their religious
169:48
>> In Mexico City, Baltazar
169:50
Brito Guararama is the director
169:53
of the National Library of Anthropology and History.
169:57
The country's most important historical
169:59
books are stored and studied here.
170:02
Including a rare copy
170:03
of a Maya book known as a codex.
170:08
>> Well, this book is the Dresden Codex.
170:12
Codices are very important
170:14
to the Maya people
170:15
because they recorded all the most important
170:18
aspects of their culture.
170:21
They contain astronomical, mathematical, and religious information.
170:28
>> Today, only four original
170:29
examples of these priceless books
170:34
>> This specific edition is very important
170:36
to us because the original was damaged.
170:40
And it's because of this edition
170:41
that we can see the codex as it was
170:44
during the 19th century.
170:48
>> For example, it can tell us that after 236
170:52
days Venus will appear
170:55
and bring a beneficial
170:57
or disastrous And then, based on this, the town's community was preparing
171:05
for drought >> This codex
171:10
was written by the Maya in the 11th or 12th centuries.
171:14
It's a direct link
171:15
with the ancient Maya
171:19
>> When you have the possibility
171:20
of analyzing a manuscript
171:22
of this type, you are somehow allowing those ancient voices
171:26
to have a presence
171:26
for today's Maya people.
171:30
Because they are, without a doubt,
171:32
an example of their culture
171:34
and all the historical
171:35
and cultural significance that these people had for
171:40
>> Codices like this were passed down from generation
171:43
to generation, but many would be destroyed.
171:49
>> After the arrival of the Spanish,
171:51
the codices were considered
171:52
to have heretical and diabolical content.
171:57
And in the middle of the 16th
171:58
century, Father Landa collected a large amount of documents
172:03
that he found and burned most of them.
172:07
>> It was an attempt by the Spanish
172:09
to wipe out Maya culture
172:11
and replace it with their own religion and world view.
172:16
some codices were hidden,
172:18
allowing historians to learn from Maya who lived before the conquest
172:23
in their own words.
172:26
Now, an incredible discovery
172:28
is exposing the lengths to which the Maya went to protect
172:31
their culture and In the Maya Highlands of Guatemala
172:37
is the city of Sajcul.
172:42
>> Archaeologist Victor Castillo wants to examine a discovery
172:46
made at the 16th
172:47
century home of Don Lucas. >> Don Lucas, hello.
172:51
>> How are you, Victor?
172:52
>> During restoration work Don Lucas
172:55
discovered a series of centuries-old Maya paintings.
173:00
>> When we changed the ceiling
173:01
and the deadwood was removed,
173:02
a piece of stucco fell down here
173:04
and I could see that there were paintings underneath.
173:08
>> The images show scenes of Maya life and customs.
173:13
>> We have a really exceptional
173:15
scene here because we have a group of musicians
173:17
who used to perform for the parties
173:19
and the It's interesting
173:22
because we can even
173:23
see very specific details
173:25
like the musicians' fingers when they pick up the
173:30
And then we have an extravagantly
173:31
dressed dancer in a bird pattern
173:33
on this It's a unique scene.
173:37
We can almost hear the Maya musicians
173:39
playing these 200-year-old instruments and more.
173:43
>> A Maya artist painted these during Spanish occupation
173:47
before hiding them from the colonists
173:49
under layers of plaster.
173:52
>> There are examples of the Spanish empire trying to eliminate
173:55
or erase certain elements of a tradition.
173:58
Especially those related to religion.
174:02
In the case of dances,
174:03
we have a historical
174:04
document showing how the church
174:06
and the civil authorities
174:07
tried to suppress some pre-colonial dances.
174:12
>> Despite colonization and the catastrophic
174:15
loss of some 90%
174:17
of the Maya population
174:18
from violence and new diseases
174:20
brought by the Spanish
174:22
the Maya were able to retain
174:24
many of their traditions.
174:27
Today, more than 8 million Maya still live across their traditional
174:30
lands, speaking almost 30 distinct
174:33
Maya Guatemala is home to the majority
174:39
of the Maya peoples today.
174:41
More than 40% of the population identify as Maya.
174:45
From the Guatemalan Maya Highlands in the south
174:48
to the lowlands as far as the Yucatán
174:50
Peninsula in Mexico, Maya culture,
174:54
like the ritual ball game,
174:58
>> I've been playing for 13 years.
175:02
It has a lot to do with our past heritage
175:05
and our culture today.
175:08
When you get involved in the game
175:10
everything around you disappears.
175:12
You concentrate, you feel the spirits of your ancestors.
175:17
You feel like you're reliving that past.
175:21
>> The Maya today are the descendants
175:23
of a remarkable civilization
175:25
that can trace its roots back some 3,000 years.
175:30
>> They keep their culture,
175:31
they keep their beliefs, their costumes,
175:33
and a lot of things we know
175:35
right now is because
175:36
they preserve them from generation
175:39
to generation until now.
175:42
>> It's incredible to be able to document these people's lives
175:44
and to return that information to their descendants.
175:47
The people who live in that area today
175:50
are direct descendants of the people who were at Mayapan.
175:52
The names of the families are the same.
175:54
>> The language is alive.
175:56
The traditions and the beliefs,
175:58
and that's really important
176:00
to know because the Mayan people,
176:02
they stood here, they still alive,
176:04
and their traditions, they are too.
176:07
We are feeling very proud
176:09
about that, where we came from.
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